GIRLFRIENDS
by ohnoeugene
Summary: Eugene, stricken by the sudden and irrational desire to get a girlfriend at all costs, embarks on his great Pokemon Journey nine years after he was supposed to in order to impress the ladies.
1. Chapter 1

The door flew open and Eugene stormed into the condo, running past his parents eating dinner. He ran into his room and shut the door. From inside it sounded like he was tearing the place apart, and in a few minutes he came out with a half full bag and his Growlithe, Cúchulainn, ambling behind him. Cupboards in the hallway were opening and their contents were extracted into his bag.

"Eugene, why were you so late from work tonight? Did your boss keep you late again? And why are you pillaging the house?" His mother, Anne, asked.

"No, Mom. I'm leaving and taking Cúchulainn with me. We're gonna get girlfriends," Eugene said.

"Why do you have to leave to get a girlfriend? And why do you have to pillage the house?" Anne asked.

"Okay so at work we've been working on that summer style guide and today were splicing together clips of current trends from around Jubilife and one of the girls mentioned that she likes really strong trainers." Eugene said as he opened up the cupboards in the kitchen, shoving whatever food looked best into his bag.

"Eugene, we don't understand what you're talking about. You're gonna have to start from the beginning." His father said.

"This is the beginning, Henry. Chronologically, of course. Okay so anyways after work T.J. came to town and we got dinner. Did you know that he's gotten six gym badges since he left? Anyways he got me thinking about how I am missing something in life and you know what I realized?" Eugene said.

"What?" Both of Eugene's parents were now up from the table and following him around on his raid of the house.

"I realized that if you want something in life nobody is gonna just deliver it to you. I'm wasting my time at work and I deserve more than I have given myself," Eugene continued. At this point he had finished raiding all of the hallways and was opening drawers in his parent's room and sifting through their things for whatever he deemed useful, all while still talking. "So I'm going out there to get it and I am taking Cúchulainn with me because he is mine and chicks like strong trainers. I'm not sure when I'm coming back. If I do, I dunno. It's been fun but I'm just ready for something new."

By now Eugene had reached the door again, Cúchulainn right on his heels, and his parents dumbstruck. "So, I guess this is it. Bye Mom, Bye Dad." Eugene said as he walked out of the door and down the walkway.

"Eugene, wait!" Henry yelled, and Eugene stopped in his footsteps and turned around to face his parents. "You aren't leaving without explaining this. Why did you change your mind about this whole Pokémon Trainer business? We've been urging you to go for the past nine years, and just now you spontaneously decide to leave? Maybe you should stay a bit and think things through, plan things out. This is a big decision, you shouldn't just make it spontaneously."

"I already explained whats going on. And if I wasn't prepared why would you have ever been urging me to go? The way I see it, I'm much more capable of surviving out there than some ten year-olds. I've grabbed everything in the house that could be useful, and I put all of my other stuff in my PC Box. You guys have nothing to worry about," Eugene said.

"Stay there," Henry said. Eugene stayed put outside as his parents returned to the house and began to talk in lowered voices as they roamed around the house themselves in a very calm and organized rendition of Eugene's earlier shake-down. In a few minutes when they returned, it was evident that they had not taken any new items for Eugene.

Anne stepped forward and held onto Eugene's shoulder's. Her eyes were scrunched up and she avoided looking him in the face when she spoké. "Eugene, you've grown up so much. I know I always told you how you should go on a journey and live your own life, but I was secretly happy that you stayed. I wanted you to be my baby forever. I guess you had to move on eventually, I just wish I had more time to prepare."

"Mom, you've had nine years to prepare, don't be so dramatic. I'll be fine." Eugene said.

"Oh, I know, I just can't help it. I'm a mother. Don't be afraid to come back or call, even after all of this. You're always welcome here," Anne said. She kissed him on both cheeks before stepping back and letting Henry step forward.

"You know, Eugene, I was starting to think this day would never come, but I'm glad it did. I don't think anyone is ever ready to go on their own Pokémon journey, but I know that you're as ready as anyone can be. And besides, you've got a Champion on your side," Henry said.

"Henry, you were League Champion for less than a year," Eugene said.

"Regardless of when I had to hand over the title, I was the Indigo League Champion. And not just anyone has what it takes to be a League Champion. Yes, you need dedication but that doesn't mean anything if you don't have anyone to support you. Thats why I want you to take Saint David with you," Henry said. He reached down to his belt and unclipped Saint David's pokéball, grabbed Eugene's hands and closed them around it."I couldn't have been League Champion without him, and I'm sure he'll be able to help you. He's very intelligent, and knows what it takes to make it to the top. With him, I know you'll be safe."

Eugene dropped Saint David's pokéball in his bag unceremoniously, and Anne ran over to give him one last hug. And then they returned, Eugene standing right outside the condo and his parents in the doorway.

"Eugene, we'll always be here. And remember that we love you very much! And I don't care if you don't want to, come home for Christmas!" Anne said, trying her best not to cry. Henry put his arm around her and nodded.

Eugene smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Trust me." He turned around and began to walk away, Cúchulainn trailing right behind him as he walked down the street, turned around the corner and disappeared into the brightly lit night.

As Eugene and Cúchulainn reached the northern exit of town, he stopped and looked out upon the wilderness in front of them. He took a deep breath and crouched down next to Cúchulainn, rubbing his head vigorously. "Welcome to our new life, buddy. This is gonna rock, huh?" Eugene said. Cúchulainn barked in return. Eugene tightened his shoes, stood up and left Jubilife City behind.


	2. Chapter 2: Jubilife City

Chapter 2: Jubilife City

The sun was just beginning to set as Eugene and Cúchulainn walked along the brick path of Route 204. These last remnants of Jubilife's expansive roads were bordered by a series of fences which separated them from small ponds, some of which had Bidoof nests on their borders close to the forest, which seemed to continue endlessly.

Eugene made a mental note that this would be a good place to take his girlfriend on a picnic, once he had one. If he had one that liked the outdoors. What if he met a girl who preferred to stay indoors, who enjoyed reading books or watching movies or going to parties? Or the kind of girl who liked the outdoors, but preferred to hike desolate mountains instead of the tranquil outskirts of a city? That kind of girl probably wouldn't have the patience for a place like this.

"Cúchulainn, how will I know which girl is the right one for me?" he said. But Cúchulainn's attention was elsewhere. Specifically, Cúchulainn's attention was with a young schoolgirl, who had called him over while Eugene's mind was elsewhere. It was a pity too, because she was way too small to be girlfriend material. Certainly not the right one.

"Is this your Growlithe?" the girl asked. She was bent down on her knees, stroking Cúchulainn with both hands as she looked up at Eugene.

"Yeah, hes mine. Do you have an older sister or anything?" Eugene asked.

She brushed off her legs as she stood up. "I'm old enough to be out alone. Besides, I'm a trainer, I can take care of myself. And you are too. So, you know what that means," she said as she pulled a Pokéball from her bag, grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're talking about." Eugene said.

"We're trainers, we have to battle! It's like, the rules, and I've been training all week. You're not afraid, are you?" she said. She threw her Pokéball between her and Cúchulainn, which released a Bidoof in a flash of light.

Cúchulainn came running to Eugene's heels, circled around his legs once and then stood in front of him, ready to fight. Eugene was shocked at how quickly the peaceful path had become the stage of a Pokémon battle. He made a mental note that, if he was going to be taking his future girlfriend on picnics, he should probably pick a more remote location so he could avoid being pestered for battles by every other trainer who passed. Towards the West there was nothing but beaches, and he figured very few trainers would bother going over there. And girls love beaches, right? Not to mention that the sun sets in the West so they could share some really nice beach sunsets. If girls love anything more than beaches, it would be beaches with sunsets. It was practically guaranteed to win over any girl who happened to be there with him. It was, all things considered, the perfect plan. Foolproof. He would have a girlfriend in no time.

"Weren't you even going to tell your Growlithe to do anything?" the girl asked.

"What?" Eugene said. He looked down at Cúchulainn and noticed that the girl's Bidoof was sitting on the Growlithe, and Cúchulainn wasn't even putting up a fight. "Cúchulainn, buddy, don't just lie there! Do something!" Eugene yelled, but Cúchulainn did not move. The girl's Bidoof made a cooing noise as it waddled back over to her.

"Looks like we won, Bidoof!" the girl said, bending down and giving the Bidoof a large hug.

"Wait, wait, no you didn't! I've still got another Pokémon!" Eugene said as he fumbled around in his bag for his Pokéballs, eventually finding Saint David's, which he quickly tossed towards the girl. "Saint David, I'm counting on you!"

The Pokéball released his father's Dragonite, which towered over both Eugene and the girl, not to mention the Bidoof. Saint David ambled over towards the girl, patted her on the head while bellowing a low tune, turned around, ambled back towards Eugene, patted him on the head, reached down to the ground, picked up his Pokéball, and returned inside.

"Saint David, I was counting on you," Eugene said while staring at the calm Pokéball on the ground.

"So...this means I still won! Cool!" the trainer girl cheered, returning Bidoof to his Pokéball and running back towards Eugene, looking up at him to speak. "Thanks for the match, wait till I tell this one to my friends at school. I beat a guy with a Dragonite!" She began to skip back to town, singing her praises to herself.

Eugene stood there, staring at Saint David's closed Pokéball and the limp Cúchulainn at his feet. "Come on buddy, lets go. We've still got a ways to go before we get to Floaroma town, and we're not gonna get there with you just being lazy."

But Cúchulainn did not move.

Eugene squatted so that he could get a closer look at his Pokémon. "Oh my god, stop being a baby. I'm disappointed we lost too, but that doesn't mean you can just give up already. You're not impressing anybody. Come on," he said.

And Cúchulainn remained motionless. Eugene began shaking Cúchulainn. "Would you just get up? Please, we've got to get going." Cúchulainn replied with a stiff wheezing.

Eugene froze. What was he supposed to do with a near-dead Pokémon? Cúchulainn had never battled before. Eugene had never battled before. He had graduated from trainer's school as a kid, but that was practically a decade ago. It was all one big, fuzzy memory of sitting in class and goofing off with his friends and somehow still passing. Had he actually learned anything? He couldn't remember anything from his class, but he could remember things from his job. Was his job useful in this situation? He could name all of the TV personalities. Popular actors and this year's Pokémon League contenders, but he couldn't for the life of him remember what happened after the matches. They never broadcast what happens after a Pokémon battle! What could help him in this situation? Who could he turn to?

Eugene realized that he knew someone who knew everything there was to know about Pokémon. He didn't want to ask him for help, but it was his only option. He stowed Saint David's Pokéball in his bag and picked up Cúchulainn, who had gained more than a few pounds in his years of following Eugene from his bed to the kitchen. "Alright, Cúchulainn, this is just a minor setback, we'll take you to Dad and it'll all be okay, buddy." Eugene said to himself as much as he said it to Cúchulainn. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Slightly reassured, Eugene turned around and began to walk back to town.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

It was a very fast walk, and it wasn't even that for very long as it quickly became a jog.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

The jog bowed out in favor of a run.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

The run was succeeded by as much of a sprint as Eugene could muster while holding a Cúchulainn that much have weighed at least fifty pounds.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

This was more of a sprint than Eugene had done in many years so it quickly became a jog once again.

"Everything's gonna be okay."

He was about to take the turn to his parent's condo when he heard a familiar voice that made him stop in his tracks. "He even had a Dragonite, but it didn't feel like fighting so I still won! Isn't that the best thing you've ever heard?"

Eugene stared across the street to see the little girl from earlier bragging to one of her friends next to a fountain. Same age and same school uniform, so definitely not girlfriend material.

"Oh wow, a Dragonite? My dad says those are super rare! How did such a bad trainer get one? Do you think he'd let me use it?" the friend asked.

Eugene had an idea that would save him a lot of his dignity. Well, some of his dignity. Enough of his dignity. Definitely worth it, anyways. Instead of walking to his parent's condo, he crossed the street towards the girls.

"I'm not sure, he seemed kind of..."

"Do you think you could help me with a...uh, something?" Eugene asked, still gasping for breath.

Both girls became silent and their eyes widened once they noticed that Eugene stood next to them. The new girl looked at the trainer girl from earlier, who nodded, and they both looked back up at Eugene in silence.

"I'm sorry, but, well, I really need your help so if you wouldn't mind just please helping me a little bit I'd be very thankful," Eugene said in between gasps.

The new girl looked at the trainer, and kinda jerked her head in Eugene's direction. The trainer seemed startled before she said, "What, uh, what can I help you with?"

Eugene knelt down to her height so she could see his Growlithe just as well as he could before he said "He hasn't moved since our battle and I was wondering if you had any ideas on how to make him better again since I'm a little bit worried about him."

The two girls gathered round Cúchulainn, and then looked at Eugene, giggling. "You're really dumb. Did you, like, flunk out of school school or something?" the trainer girl said.

"Would you just tell me what the heck I can do to make him better?" Eugene asked.

"Okay. Just follow me. Come on, Samantha," said the trainer from earlier, who began walking down the street. The new girl, Samantha, followed diligently, and Eugene eagerly did the same.

They only walked about a block until they reached a building with a luminous orange roof. The young trainer entered the sliding glass door, and Eugene and Samantha followed suit. Inside was a bright, sterile room, with escalators leading both up and down, and a public computer in the corner. The walls were lined with pillows and seats for weary trainers to rest. The trainer girl was standing in a line of people that led up to the counter, all looking mildly annoyed at having to be here, chatting inanely on their phones or with the person next to them. Eugene couldn't help but feel a bit stupid. He had been in this exact building multiple times to help conduct interviews with trainers for public polls, but hadn't even thought to come here on his own to find someone to help him.

"This is the Pokémon Center! We just gotta wait in line, then the nurse will take care of anything. Shes super nice, we had a field trip here last year, and she let me run the machine!" the trainer girl said.

"The machine?" Eugene asked.

"It heals the Pokémon! And I got to run it too! You just hook up the Pokéballs and it just heals them." Samantha said.

"Then what does the nurse do?" Eugene asked.

"She takes the Pokémon from you and hooks it up to the machine," the trainer girl said.

"Why do we need the nurse? Why not just have a machine that is self-service?" Eugene asked.

"Not just anyone can operate the machines, you dummy!" the trainer girl said.

Eugene decided that this topic probably wasn't worth delving into, and even if it was, these girls probably didn't know the actual answer. After a moment of quiet, Eugene said, "So, I never learned your names."

"Our parents told us not to talk to strangers. What's your name?" the trainer girl said.

"I'm Eugene, and you've been talking to me for a while. I don't think telling me your name is going to cross the line," Eugene said.

"Still," the trainer girl said, "We're not supposed to."

Eugene rolled his eyes, and let his attention wander away from the girls. Their group had moved pretty far up the line without him noticing it, and were now almost at the front desk. Even with the superfluous nurse and the ridiculous amount of people waiting, the line moved pretty quickly. Looking ahead, he could see the machine-like motions of the nurse as she accepted the Pokéballs and ran the large, blinking machine. He supposed he would have to put Cúchulainn back in his Pokéball in order to get him in the machine, which was a relief because he had gotten very tired of lugging around the fat Pokémon.

He set Cúchulainn down and started digging into his bag for his Pokéball. He couldn't actually remember the last time Cúchulainn had been inside the Pokéball. At home there was no need for them, but Eugene could appreciate their use now. If he caught any big Pokémon, there was no way he could carry them back to the Pokémon Center like he had carried Cúchulainn. He finally found Cúchulainn's Pokéball behind his computer, and faced it towards Cúchulainn while pressing the button. A bright light encapsulated Cúchulainn, and then the Growlithe had vanished from the room. The ball had gained a certain reassuring heft to it afterwards.

"Hey Eugene, its your turn, get up!" the trainer girl said, staring down at Eugene from the front counter with her hands on her hips.

Eugene made sure his bag was closed and stood up, walked to the counter.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the Nurse said.

"Yes, please," Eugene said.

"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds," the nurse said as she took Cúchulainn's Pokéball, hooked them up to the machine and pressed a button. A few lights flashed, and she handed the Pokéball back. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!"

Eugene said thank you as he turned away, Pokéball in hand. It was warm, like a pair of socks fresh out of the drier. Another trainer quickly took Eugene's place at the counter. The girls, who had started chatting while waiting for him, quickly caught up with Eugene as he made his way out of the building.

"So, we were thinking, because you don't know how to train Pokémon, maybe you want us to help you catch a Pokémon?" the trainer girl asked.

Eugene was starting to suspect that she enjoyed being in a position of superiority to someone who was nearly twice her size. But he also didn't remember much about catching Pokémon, which was probably aided by the fact that he had never caught one. Why wasn't this stuff covered in trainers school? Or did fall asleep in class more often than he thought he had?

"Uh, yeah, that would be great," Eugene said.

"Alright! Come on, lets go!" the trainer girl said, immediately running ahead. Samantha was on her heels. Eugene trailed behind again, but didn't let them get too far ahead.

As the girls discussed what Pokémon they thought would suit Eugene the best (answer: Wooper), Eugene looked at Jubilife. The sun had set now, and in the night the city had lit up with clusters of lights that left no room for darkness in the sky. Many people close to Eugene's age swarmed the sidewalks, searching for entertainment in one of the many open shops. The hazy glow of apartments and late-night shops faded as they reached the outskirts of the city.

Route 204 was different in the darkness. Jubilife's glow was strong enough to superficially light the area, but also cast deep shadows behind every fencepost and transformed the knee-high grass into a dark wilderness and the thick forest into an impenetrable maze.

The girls stopped in front of the tall grass and turned to face Eugene, who was a few strides behind them.

"Alright, Eugene, heres how you do it. Pokémon live in grass like this, so you gotta go in there and grab one! Its easy," the trainer girl said.

"Don't I have to use a Pokéball for something?" Eugene asked.

"Duh. You have to catch it in the Pokéball," the trainer girl said.

"Its easier to get them in there if you battle them first!" Samantha said.

"So I battle them and then I use the Pokéball once I win?" Eugene asked.

"Thats what our teacher said," the Samantha said.

"Have you guys ever actually caught a Pokémon?" Eugene asked.

"Well, no, but we're better trainers than you so you should listen to us!" the trainer girl said.

"I was just asking! Just asking, no big deal," Eugene said as he inched into the grass. Perhaps having them help him was not the best way to get things done. But it beat asking his dad, which would have been humiliating. He just prayed nobody else was watching him be bossed around by two little kids.

Eugene stumbled through the grass, which wrapped around his legs and threw him off balance with every step, until he reached the middle of the patch of grass. He stood there, silently, looking around at each corner for signs of life. The girls were a fair distance away now, but they could still yell to him.

"You've gotta run around if you're going to find any Pokémon!" the trainer girl shouted.

"That'll scare them away! If I stand still, I can watch them and sneak up on them!" Eugene said with a raised voice.

"That'll never work you dummy!" the trainer girl shouted back, crossing her arms in exasperation.

Eugene ignored her and continued to stand silently, waiting for something. A chirp or rustling blade of grass: any indication of life would be welcome. But nothing appeared. It would have been entirely silent if the girls weren't giggling, probably amused at Eugene's perceived incompetence. But he still waited for at least ten minutes, with no sign of Pokémon.

This was normal, right? Pokémon probably were scared to come out with people around. They could smell you, or something. Wild Pokémon don't like interacting with humans. It made sense. Why would they like trainers? All Eugene wanted to do was pound one into oblivion with Cúchulainn and then capture it in a tiny little ball and use it in further battles. Completely understandable.

There was a rustling in the grass. Eugene looked to find the Pokémon, and there was definitely movement. He began to run over to where he had seen movement, tearing any grass that dared strangle his legs out of the ground with his sheer momentum.

A tiny bird launched itself at Eugene's side, coming from behind.

"Cool, it's a Starly! You've got this one in the bag!" Samantha yelled from the side of the field.

Eugene grabbed his Pokéball from his bag quickly and released Cúchulainn to battle the Starly. "Cúchulainn, attack!" he commanded.

Cúchulainn tore into the Starly quickly, nipping at the small bird and pouncing around, trying to bring it down. The bird was quick and fluttered around a bit, diving in to scratch at Cúchulainn, but every dive brought it closer to the Growlithe's teeth. In a final motion, the Starly dove down and Cúchulainn jumped up, tackling it to the ground and tearing it apart.

Eugene ran over to survey the situation, and found the Starly in the same limp state that Cúchulainn had been in earlier. He reached into his bag, found an empty Pokéball, and pressed the button to capture the injured Pokémon.

No light. No sound. The Starly was still on the ground, and Cúchulainn sat beside it, barking. Eugene tried pressing the buttons a few more times, but was met with the same lack of a response. He stood up, looked over at the girls and shouted, "Hey, why won't my Pokéball catch it? Its lying on the ground, not even fighting back!"

"You must have knocked it out! You can't catch it like that! Find a different Pokémon!" the trainer girl shouted back.

"That doesn't make sense! What difference does it make if the Pokémon is conscious or not to the Pokéball?" Eugene yelled.

The girls looked at each other a bit, then looked back at Eugene and just shrugged.

"You should try running again, you found a Pokémon really quick when you did that!" Samantha said.

"My older brother swears that running back and forth in a straight line is the best way to catch a rare Pokémon!" the trainer girl added.

Eugene hated the fact that they seemed to be right about the running around thing. Ten minutes standing brought nothing but the suggestion that a Pokémon might be somewhere, while a few seconds of running had literally gotten him assaulted by a Pokémon eager to fight. But Eugene tried again, running further into the field with Cúchulainn right behind him.

In just a few steps he had come across a small Shinx drawing lots of attention to itself by sparking and growling. If it wasn't so cute it might have stood a chance of being intimidating. Cúchulainn stayed behind Eugene, looking up, unsure of what to do.

"Cúchulainn, take it down but not out! It still needs to be conscious for us to catch it!" Eugene said, pointing at the Shinx. Cúchulainn barked and jumped straight into action, continuing the same game of trying to bite and tackle his opponent. The Shinx arched it's back and clawed at Cúchulainn. The two Pokémon circled around each other, trading blows, until Cúchulainn had pinned the Shinx down underneath him.

Eugene could hear the Shinx's stuggling cries still, and ran over with the empty Pokéball. He aimed at the Shinx and pressed the button. In a quick flash of light, the Shinx had disappeared from underneath Cúchulainn, and Eugene could feel the weight of the Pokéball.

"Good job, buddy! We caught a Pokémon! We're on our way to becoming serious Pokémon trainers!" Eugene said as he hefted the fat Growlithe up, squeezing him tightly. "We've got this trainer thing in the bag, and its just our first day!"

"Are you gonna nickname it?" the trainer girl shouted.

"Nickname?" Eugene asked. He hadn't considered this. He put Cúchulainn down to think. He wanted strong, dignified names for his Pokémon. Names that inspired fear in his opponents and respect from his peers, names that would make a girl swoon with the sheer force of their intense, fiery machismo. He liked Cúchulainn's nickname, and thought something in a similar vein would be appropriate. Besides, girls like consistency, right?

"Irusan," Eugene muttered. He faced the girls and lifted the Pokéball in the air, shouting "My Shinx's name is Irusan!" Shoving the ball back into his bag, he ran back out of the grass with Cúchulainn at his heels, avoiding the barrage of wild Pokémon.

"Show us your new Pokémon!" Samantha said.

"Sure," Eugene said as he fished into his bag to grab the ball back out, quickly releasing Irusan on the ground in front of him. The Shinx lay on the ground quietly, with sullen eyes and heavy breath, yet to recover from the battle. Eugene was a bit disappointed, but Samantha and the trainer girl still stooped down to pet the Shinx while making cooing sounds.

"Maybe he'll be more...alive if I take him to the Pokémon Center?" Eugene suggested. The girls were content with just petting the weary creature, so Eugene sat down a few feet away with Cúchulainn and let them do their thing.

It had been a busy day, and Eugene hadn't realized how tired he was until now. He should have already gotten to Floaroma Town, but he wasn't sure if that was an option at this point. He couldn't go back home for the night either, that would be like giving up. Sleeping in the outdoors didn't appeal to Eugene. So where would he stay? He couldn't afford a hotel in town, and Floaroma didn't promise anything that Jubilife was missing aside from a fresh start for his journey. And flowers. Girls liked flowers. At the very least, it was a better start than Oreburgh or Sandgem, there weren't many girls in either of those towns. Maybe those escalators in the Pokémon Center led to beds for Pokémon trainers? And if not, maybe Eugene didn't need to sleep. He could just keep going as long as he needed to.

As that thought crossed his mind, even Eugene wasn't sure if it was true. Could he keep going? What if something like today happened, where he wasn't prepared to handle the situation? There won't always be other trainers to rely on for help. No little giggling little schoolgirls to take control of the situation. It was ridiculous, how his friends like T.J. and Kyle were already accomplished trainers and he was getting help from kids half his age. He was unlikely to get a girlfriend at this rate.

He had to start somewhere, make a change. Staying in Jubilife wasn't going to get him anywhere. The sooner he left the better, and tonight was the night. All he had to do was get to Floaroma, he could figure things out from there.

Eugene stood up, made his way over to the girls, and put Irusan back inside of his Pokéball. "I'm really behind, I've got a long way to go still and its late. I'm gonna take this little guy to the Pokémon center and then I'm gonna be on my way. You girls should probably be heading home," he said as he began to walk back towards town.

The girls got up to follow him.

"Are you gonna say thank you?" the trainer girl asked.

"For what?" Eugene asked.

"For teaching you about the Pokémon Center and helping you catch a Pokémon," she said.

Eugene paused, allowing the girls to catch up to him. He forced a smile for them and said, "Thank you," before continuing to walk towards Jubilife City. The girls walked a few paces behind him, talking about girl things as usual, but their high pitched giggles had been replaced with hushed tones and secrecy.

Once in Jubilife, the girls drifted away quickly into some neighborhood and Eugene made a beeline for the Pokémon Center. There was no line this time, though a few trainers sat in the corner talking amongst themselves. Eugene walked straight up to the nurse.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" she said with the exact same intonation as before.

"Yes," Eugene said as he handed her all three of his Pokémon.

"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds." she said with the exact same intonation as before while she took the Pokéballs and hooked them up to the machine. In a few moments, the process was done. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!" she said with the exact same intonation as before. Eugene flashed the nurse a smile as he tucked his Pokémon away inside of his bag and left the Pokémon Center.

Outside, Eugene fumbled into his bag and brought out Irusan's Pokéball. He pressed the button, and a moment later Irusan sat in front of him. Eugene could tell an immediate difference in it's disposition from earlier. While Irusan was not as eager to please as Cúchulainn, he was much more active than he had been after the battle, sniffing at Eugene and rubbing against his legs, possessing even the occasional hop in his step. Eugene scratched behind Irusan's large ears before beginning to walk towards the North edge of town once again. Irusan did not follow Eugene in the same way that Cúchulainn did, but instead stayed a few steps behind, sniffing and investigating their surroundings as they traveled.

The walk through Jubilife to Route 204 seemed longer this time. Eugene had lost the eager spirit of adventure from his first trip and the anticipation of catching a Pokémon from the second. The night had progressed to the point that the streets were quiet and dull, possessing no surprises or twists. It seemed like the entire city had gone to bed. And now that he had seen what was beyond town, Eugene somewhat dreaded going back this way. It had lost its wild charm and was just an obstacle on his way to Floaroma now. But he had made up his mind. He would make it to Floaroma town.

As Eugene reached the last two lampposts of the city, he stopped. He tightened his shoes and played with Irusan's ears a bit more. "Maybe this time we'll actually make it all the way there, huh?"


	3. Chapter 3: Route 204

Chapter 3

Eugene staggered through the grasses of Route 204, desperately trying to make up lost time. Last night he sat down underneath a tree, and decided to rest his eyes for a minute. Next thing he knew, it was a bright morning. Luckily, Irusan had been left out of his Pokéball and was able to handle anything that might have crossed their path, but staying up all night had exhausted him, so Eugene was relying on Cúchulainn to ward off wild Pokémon. This wasn't a huge problem, since Cúchulainn was more than prepared for the task and was eager to please.

Eugene knew it was still early, because he could see the sun just rising from the top of Mt. Coronet. Now that he had calmed down from his initial rush of adventuring spirit, he couldn't help but notice a few things. The sun was way brighter than he had ever noticed in Jubilife, and the constant street commotion had been replaced with the occasional chirping of Starly and Kricketot. He was hardly out of the city and he seemed to be in an entirely different world.

Except Cúchulainn was right at his heels, just like always. That certainly hadn't changed.

Thats what being a trainer was all about, right? In the wild, with just your Pokémon for companionship. They were your best friends, you didn't need other people when you had your Pokémon with you. But Cúchulainn was kind of more obnoxious than he was company, it felt more like babysitting a spastic kid. And Irusan was in his Pokéball, he might as well not exist. The Pokémon thing was not what it was cut out to be. Maybe once he had a girlfriend, she would also be a Pokémon trainer. They could travel together, keep each other company. All of this wouldn't be nearly as boring with her around.

Eventually, Eugene and Cúchulainn arrived at a large, intimidating rock outcropping which stretched far to both the East and West, into the thick forest and out of sight. The rocks were tall enough that climbing it was not an option, unless Eugene wanted to risk serious injury. There had to be another way.

Eugene took the opportunity to survey the area. Behind him he could still see most of Jubilife's skyscrapers, but he was fairly confident that this was the furthest North he had ever been on his own. To his right was just rocks and thick forest. Towards his left, Eugene could see a little girl in a yellow dress sitting next to a signpost in front of what looked like a cave.

"Why do I always find little girls? Is it so much to ask for someone my own age?" Eugene asked himself under his breath as he trudged towards the sign.

The sign simply read "Ravaged Path". Eugene recalled that, as a kid, he and his friends would often dare each other to go through this path. Every time anyone worked up the courage to do it, they'd chicken out halfway through Route 204 and run back home. Eugene couldn't help but grin as he stood face to face with what had tormented him during his childhood, and now he couldn't care any less. So what if it was dark?

Still, walking to the entrance brought him uncomfortably close to that little girl. Now that Eugene was so close to her, he was pretty sure she was crying. She was a few years younger than the girls from last night, and it looked like she was sitting on a backpack. She had probably taken a dare on her way to school and went too far and just didn't know what to do. Just walking away felt kind of wrong. He looked down at her and said, "You need some help?"

She looked up at him, her nose running, squinting through her tears, and nodded.

Eugene stood there for about a minute, trying desperately not to make eye contact despite the fact that she was really the only interesting thing around.

"Are you gonna tell me what you need help with?" Eugene asked.

She nodded again.

Eugene leaned onto the sign, giving in and staring down at her. She looked like a mass of snot and tears.

In between sobs, the little girl began to speak. "This morning my...my mom got me and my sister...up for school. I...I didn't want to go...so I ran away!"

"You ran all the way to the Ravaged Path from Jubilife?"

"No...I ran away from home...and fell down the hill!" she cried.

Eugene looked up at the hill. Falling down this rocky cliff seemed dangerous, he couldn't help but wonder how she hadn't hurt herself. But she seemed to be okay. No obviously broken bones or serious wounds. Of course, he wasn't a doctor, but he'd like to think he could tell if something was drastically wrong.

"So you're from Floaroma town? I'm on my way there right now. Lets go together," Eugene said.

"But I'm scared to go through the cave!" she said.

"I'll be there. If you're really scared, I have Cúchulainn to protect us," Eugene said, gesturing towards Cúchulainn, who was batting a distressed Budew around with his paws.

"I've never seen one of those before," she said.

"It's a Growlithe, they're super strong and super brave, and they protect you no matter what," Eugene said.

A smile spread on the girl's wet face. She stood up and rubbed her nose off in her dress, which just smeared the snot all over, and said, "Alright, but you have to give me a piggyback ride all the way there!"

Eugene's back was sore from sleeping on the ground, but he couldn't just leave this kid stranded here. Besides, he could woo some chicks with the story. It was a very heroic thing he was doing, it was noble and strong. Making it through the Ravaged Path while carrying a helpless, injured little girl. If he could spin it well, this little girl was a blessing.

Eugene squatted down low to the ground, his back facing the little girl. She put on her backpack and squirmed on his back, wrapping her legs around his chest and arms around his neck, nearly choking him. "By the way, my name is Liz."

"My name is Eugene."

"Nice to meet you, Eugene," Liz said.

"It's nice to meet you too, Liz. Cúchulainn, come on, we're leaving," Eugene said. Cúchulainn's attention snapped towards Eugene. He dropped the Budew that had mysteriously found its way between his teeth, and ran over to his trainer, tail wagging eagerly.

With Liz on his back, Eugene took his first steps into the Ravaged Path. To his surprise he could still see fairly well on the inside. It seemed to be just a hollowed out cavern, extending far back into the hill. He could see a faint glow to his right behind a pile of rocks, which must have been the exit.

"It's really dark in here," she whispered into Eugene's ear.

He nodded, and said "I can see good enough to get us through okay, don't worry."

Eugene approached the rock pile and began to walk up, instantly tumbling and slipping on a loose rock. Even though he could see general shapes just fine, the shadows obscured individual rocks, and he hadn't packed a flashlight because he figured he'd be resting whenever it was dark. Figuring out which rocks would be solid surfaces and which were unstable would be a work of trial and error.

Cúchulainn was spastic, jumping and running around, sending loose rocks tumbling down the hill, and exposing a nearly vertical slab underneath. There was no way Eugene could climb the slab itself, so he needed to make sure he didn't knock too many rocks loose on his way up, or he'd be losing his only way up. Eugene fumbled in his bag for Cúchulainn's Pokéball, and made the Growlithe return before it caused any more unwarranted destruction.

Climbing was an exercise in trial and error. Eugene had to start moving on all fours so he could hold on tight in case any rocks slipped, and then had to only move one limb at a time in search of a good hold, careful not to put too much pressure on a loose rock in case it destabilized where Eugene was on the wall, and forced him to start all over again.

About half way up the pile, Liz began to scream. Loudly.

Eugene turned his head and saw a Zubat zooming around their heads, catching hold of the girl's hair with its wings. It began to make its own unpleasant screeches, because apparently just having a little girl screaming into his ear while climbing a crumbling rock hill wasn't enough for Eugene to deal with. He couldn't send out Cúchulainn to fight it because there wasn't really any solid ground for Cúchulainn to fight upon, and the constant jumping and tackling would probably take all of them back down to the bottom, and finding a new path up would be ridiculous. He tried to swat it out of the way, but it would just come back from a different angle just as aggressively as before. The only option was to continue the climb, and to do it quickly.

"Hold on," Eugene said.

Eugene vaulted forward to gain some distance between them and the Zubat. The sheer force of their landing sent the rocks underneath his feet tumbling, causing him to slip. He grabbed for something to hold onto, and scraped his hand on a rock, but was able to hold on tight. From here he continued to crawl up. But Liz's continued screams told him that it hadn't helped much, because the Zubat was still there.

Looking backwards, Eugene could see that all of the commotion had attracted an entire swarm of Zubat that were tugging and pulling at Liz's dress, and she was clutching onto him tighter and tighter, burying her wet face in the back of his neck.

Eugene scrambled for a decent footing, desperate to summit the pile of rocks.

Liz squealed every time Eugene slipped even the slightest.

The Zubat swarm continued to grow. Now they were getting in the way of Eugene's vision and nipping at every exposed surface, trying to latch on. Eugene crouched low to the rocks, hoping to avoid many of the Zubat, but he couldn't do anything to spare Liz except keep moving forward.

After a few more cycles of reaching, grasping and shuffling around, Eugene finally reached the top of the rock pile. Eugene stood sideways on the hill and kicked loose some supporting rocks, allowing himself to slide down far enough to jump from there to the solid ground below, and searched in his bag for Cúchulainn's Pokéball.

"Take care of them, buddy!" Eugene said as he tossed a Pokéball onto the ground. Cúchulainn popped out, and quickly began to spit embers at the swarm of Zubat. Many backed, but the swarm was still growing larger with all of the commotion, subjecting Cúchulainn to biting and screeching.

The stream of flames began to die down as Cúchulainn tired out, and Eugene began to search through his bag once again for something useful. Irusan was too tired to fight. Catching a Zubat wouldn't help because it would have to be weakened to be caught. Eugene cursed himself for not buying any potions in Jubilife the night before. He had only been in and out of town about a billion times. It wouldn't have hurt him to stock up a bit! At the bottom of the bag he found one last Pokéball. Saint David's Pokéball.

Eugene paused. Last night, Saint David had refused to cooperate. If the same happened today, Eugene wasn't sure what he could do. Irusan was in no condition to fight off a horde of Zubat, and Cúchulainn wouldn't last much longer. The exit wasn't close enough to get away from the Zubat without giving them some kind of distraction.

Eugene knew what he would do. It wouldn't be a very fitting end to his story, but Eugene didn't have to tell the entire truth when retelling it.

Eugene grabbed Cúchulainn's Pokéball and retrieved the Pokémon, and threw Saint David's Pokéball, releasing him in Cúchulainn's place. Every single Zubat that had been focusing on Cúchulainn turned their attention to the very confused Dragonite. Eugene hoisted up Liz's legs up so he knew she wasn't going to fall off of him, turned around, and ran.

Eugene and Liz were walking back on the path to Floaroma, having escaped the Ravaged Path successfully. Just a few steps after Eugene had set her down, Liz wrestled her hand around Eugene's. The upper part of Route 204 was nearly identical to the lower part, which Eugene was grateful for. He could just run away from attacking Pokémon here and they would stop pestering them. Eugene planned on avoiding the Ravaged Path and anything remotely resembling the Ravaged Path for the rest of his life. He'd rather climb over the summit of Mt. Coronet than go through it.

"Is your Pokémon going to be okay alone in the cave?" Liz asked.

"Oh, yeah, he can handle it. He'll be fine," Eugene said.

"When we get back to Floaroma, do I have to go to school?" Liz asked.

"You know what, how about you follow me around today. I've got some very important business in Floaroma and I could use your help," Eugene said.

"Really?" The girls face lit up, "That would be so cool!"

"Yeah, lets hurry up so we can get started!" Eugene said.

Liz ran ahead at this point, forcing Eugene to catch up.

"So, why did you not want to go to school today? Don't you want to be a Pokémon trainer like me?" Eugene asked her while they were walking up a flight of wooden steps.

"I'm already a Pokémon trainer! My daddy caught me a Pachirisu, so I don't need school," She said.

Eugene chuckled as she skipped along the path in her own brand of delighted dismissal. "Do you really think you know everything there is to know about Pokémon?"

"Well, I think I know just as much as you do, and you're a big trainer," she said.

Eugene thought that it was likely she knew more than he did, but decided not to say anything.

The walk to Floaroma was short, interrupted by a spontaneous run through a field of grass, and Eugene and Liz arrived before noon. It was a very small town, with only one main road going through it, populated indiscriminately by houses that seemed almost more like cottages, and local shops, with a Pokémon Center that seemed to tower over everything but the matching Pokémart with its industrial look and feel.

Liz looked up at Eugene and asked, "So, what are we gonna do?"

"First I need to go to the Pokémon Center. That Zubat swarm was a bit rough on my Growlithe. Then we're gonna go around and meet everybody in town," he said, hunching down to face her and pointing with his open hand at the Pokémon Center.

She nodded, and they walked into the Pokémon Center together. The interior was identical to the Pokémon Center in Jubilife, though this Pokémon Center had far fewer trainers inside than the one in Jubilife, and Eugene walked straight up to the counter and set his Pokéballs down.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the nurse asked with a polite smile.

"Yes," Eugene said.

"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds," she said as she took the three Pokéballs that were sitting in front of her. She delicately hooked them up to the machine, taking her time to make sure everything was in place. A few button presses caused the machine to whirr and beep, which prompted the nurse to take the balls out of the machine and present them to Eugene once again. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!"

Eugene took his Pokéballs from the nurse and stared at her for a second. Something seemed odd, but Eugene couldn't quite place it.

"What's wrong?" Liz asked as she followed Eugene out the sliding glass door.

"Oh, nothing," Eugene said. "So how about you start showing me around town?"

"Where do you want to go?" she asked.

"I want to meet girls that are around my age," Eugene said.

"I know where we can meet girls!" she said, running down the street, and Eugene followed.

Liz led Eugene down the street to a large square shop surrounded by flowers, with two berry trees in front of it. Inside were even more flowers, arranged in pots and vases that were tucked on every surface and corner of the store. More importantly, this shop was entirely run by girls. There was a younger schoolgirl who was at least older than Liz, but the other two were closer to Eugene's age. The closest girl was a brunette, and she was arranging flowers in their vases. Kinda homely. The second girl was behind a counter in the furthest corner of the store. Everything about her was no less than stunning, from her blond hair to her outfit.

In less than half a second, Eugene became painfully aware that the back of his shirt was covered in little girl snot, he was dirty and scratched up from the Ravaged Path, his hair was a mess, and he had forgotten to put on deodorant this morning. But he was a Pokémon trainer, and all of those things contributed to his rough, manly image that would drive the girls wild. He didn't become a Pokémon trainer so that he could be prim and proper for the ladies, he became a Pokémon trainer so that they would swoon over his unrelenting, overwhelming manliness. The dirt and smell and hair and even some of the snot was all part of a package. A sexy package. There was no way Eugene could fail.

Eugene marched over to the blond-haired girl and leaned on the counter, and the Liz went to talk to the schoolgirl.

The blond took one glance at Eugene and said, "Welcome to Pick a Peck of Colors Flower Shop, are you here to trade berries for accessories?"

"What?" Eugene asked.

"You're a trainer right? Are you interested in Pokémon Contests? We've got accessories for your Pokémon. You dress them up so they look nice and try to impress the judges," she said.

"No, I know what Pokémon Contests are, that's girl stuff. I'm here," Eugene paused to lift his eyebrows in what he thought was a suggestive manner, "for you."

Eugene thought he heard the brunette stifle a laugh, but couldn't figure out why, so he ignored it.

"Oh, you're one of those trainers. Listen, uh, I already have a boyfriend, but Taylor over there broke up with her boyfriend last week. Maybe you can convince her do something stupid with you," she gestured over at the homely brunette in the corner.

Taylor snapped her head in their direction, a look of wry amusement on her face as she said, "I'm not taking your scraps, Hillary. Besides, he doesn't really look like my type."

Hillary grinned as she said, "I'm sorry we couldn't help you."

"Sure," Eugene said as he turned around and walked out.

Liz noticed that Eugene was walking out and ran back to him. She grabbed his hand and looked up at him, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. The girls in there just weren't very nice. How about we meet some other people!" Eugene said.

Liz nodded and took Eugene to the Pokémart down the road. As they walked through the sliding glass doors, Eugene noticed a few things. First, there were only girls in here as well, two behind the counter and a few walking through the aisle. Second, the setup inside was exactly like the Jubilife Pokémart, with the shelves in the front and the fridges in the back. Third, he hadn't eaten all day long and was starving.

Eugene knew that he couldn't ask them all out, as that had destroyed his chances in the flower shop. No, he'd have to scope things out here. He'd browse through the aisles and find some food while scoping out the girls and figuring out his chances with each one of them, then he'd go for the kill. Eugene began to finger through merchandise on the shelves, pretending to read the labels while paying attention to the girls. Then, he'd pick the best girlfriend.

"I thought you wanted to meet people," said Liz.

"I'm kinda hungry, how about we get some food first?" Eugene said.

"This is all Pokémon food," she said.

"My Pokémon need to eat too, we can worry about me later," he replied.

Eugene started with the girls in the aisles. One of them was blond and looked remarkably like the girl in the flower shop, but obviously wasn't. Maybe they were sisters? Very similar looking sisters. As hot as she was, Eugene couldn't help but be a bit wary of her after the immediate dismissal earlier. Those wounds were still fresh. The other girl scanning the aisle a bit further back was okay. She was pretty but not super gorgeous. Maybe he could use her as a stepping-stone relationship? Or a fixer-upper. With a little help she could probably be legitimate girlfriend material. She wasn't likely to turn him down, but why settle for less?

Liz had grabbed a small shopping basket for Eugene, and now was occasionally shoving a small item in front of him, usually some drink or candy bar that stores like this sold for impulse buyers. Eugene would nod and she would put it down in the basket delicately. Eugene had already found Cúchulainn's favorite food, and stocked up on potions. And he didn't really have to shop for Saint David anymore. Finding food for Irusan was proving to be a bit of a challenge, though. Mostly because he had no idea what Irusan liked to eat.

The girls behind the counter were similarly mixed. One of them was hunched down low to the counter, absentmindedly rolling a Pokéball from one hand to the other. The other was sitting on the counter, talking with to her coworker about something. It was hard to tell how the hunched girl looked from this angle, but Eugene could tell that her hair was pretty awful, pulled back in an awkward loose ponytail that looked like she didn't really care about what she looked like. If she took care of her hair like that, not to mention her posture, Eugene couldn't imagine she took care of her looks any better the rest of the time. The one sitting on the counter was, however, much better. She wore her hair in two pigtails, which was a bit immature but it worked with her shorts and apron. She wasn't as stunning as the blond was, but she was definitely cute in her own way. She was able to work with what she had, and she was successful. Eugene couldn't help but admire that.

Eugene grabbed a large Poffin loaf and a few berries to share among the team when he noticed that the Blond girl had paid for whatever she was buying and walked out the door. This made Eugene's decision pretty easy. He would focus on the girl with the pigtails sitting on the counter.

Now that Eugene had decided who to target, he had to come up with a strategy. Last time he hadn't gotten any success by immediately jumping on the subject of dating, so he had to come up with another strategy. Something to get her talking, let her realize what a nice guy he was. What did he have to work with? Pretty much anything in the market. And he hadn't gotten food for Shinx yet, that'd be a good conversation starter. And he would be sure to hammer in the point about saving the little girl, he hadn't gotten to use that one last time. It could mean the difference between girlfriend and no girlfriend.

Eugene walked up to the counter, with enough confidence in his stride to prove he wasn't some whimpering nerd, but not obnoxiously swaggering like a jerk. These things are all about finesse. He tapped the girl on the shoulder, and did his best to smile while he sPoké, "Excuse me, do you think you could help me? I caught a Shinx recently and I don't know what to feed it."

She spun herself around and pushed herself off the counter, standing up straight. She began to talk while she walked over to the shelves. "Oh yeah, Shinx are easy to feed. They don't become picky eaters until they evolve, so you can practically throw anything in front of them and they'll love it."

"Really?" Eugene said.

"Of course. You must not be from around here if you didn't know that, though," she said.

"I'm from Jubilife," Eugene said.

"Ooh, a city boy, huh? How's hick-town treating you? Ready to run back to civilization yet?" she said as she grabbed a few cans of low-quality Pokémon food and held them out in front of Eugene. "Now both of these are mostly just Magikarp since its so cheap, but one of thems got more Finneon in it which I guess is supposed to be better for your Shinx, but its a little more expensive and I've heard it might make your Pokémon glow, but Shinx have that problem already, so it doesn't really matter for you."

Eugene grabbed the cheaper one, and reached down to get a few more cans of it as well. "Thanks. Floaroma has been nice so far, but I don't know what I'm gonna do tonight. Is there anything to do here?" he asked.

"Not really, most people passing through just pass through, not that I blame them. Its a nice place, but I know its not for everyone," she said as they walked back to the counter, where she helped Eugene unload the shopping basket onto the counter, where the hunchy girl started ringing up each item.

"You've really stocked up on candy bars, haven't you?" The hunchy girl behind the counter asked. Eugene ignored her.

"If there's not much to do around here, maybe we could hang out tonight? Eat dinner tonight? Uh, pick some flowers?" Eugene asked.

There was a moment of silence. The hunchy girl and the pigtail girl looked at each other.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" the pigtail girl said.

The moment of truth. Eugene saw two possibilities: lie to remain cool, or cut to the chase. The way this girl walked and talked made Eugene think she wasn't into wasting time, so he decided to go for it.

"Well, yes." Eugene said.

"No."

"No?" Eugene asked.

"I won't go on a date with you," she said. The bored girl was trying her best not to smile as she took Eugene's money and sorted out the change while the girl with pigtails put his items in bags.

Eugene grabbed the little girl and picked her up. "But I'm a really nice guy! I brought this little girl through the Ravaged Path when she was lost!"

"It's true!" Liz piped up.

"Quiet, this is big-people time," Eugene whispered.

"That's really sweet of you but I'm not gonna go on a date with you. She should be in school, not helping you pick up chicks. I don't even know you. Have a nice day, better luck next time." she said, handing him a bag full of his items.

"But you can get to know me! Tonight!" Eugene said, clutching the bag to his chest.

"I'd rather get to know a guy whose worth my time. Goodbye, sir," she said, gesturing her arm towards the door.

Eugene stormed out, and Liz followed him once again.

"You got angry in there," she said as Eugene looked around Floaroma, inspecting any other hiding spots for girls.

He saw a guy and girl walking down the street holding hands. The guy wasn't that attractive. What was he doing wrong? He was talking to them, smiling, being nice, not overly forceful, and he still was getting rejected. And it wasn't like he was just going after superhot babes. The girl he just asked out was not that good looking, and could stand to lose some weight. And her friend was definitely not a looker, so its not like her standards were very high anyways. And both girls in the flower shop rejected him, even that ugly chick! They'd all be lucky to have a boyfriend like Eugene.

"Wheres a good place to get lunch?" Eugene asked the little girl.

"The market just across the street has food. Could we go up to the meadow to eat our lunch? Its my favorite spot in the whole wide world!" she said while pointing to a small cottage that must have been the market. On the wall was a large poster that said _Support Local Business! _as if there were a choice.

Eugene walked across the street, barging into the cottage, looking around the dimly lit store at what they had. It looked as if the cottage had been a house at some point, and was lazily remodeled as a market by moving some shelving in. One of the fridges in the back looked like the same model of fridge his parents had at home.

Quite a few people were taken aback at his abrupt entrance, and he tried to compose himself a little bit, but there was no questioning it. Every person in this store wouldn't be likely to date him after seeing that, so he might as well not waste his time. He would get his food and leave.

As he looked at the shelves, he began to pine for the supermarkets in Jubilife City. The selection here was awful. He wasn't even sure if they had ice cream. Eugene grabbed a generic loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and some Razz Berry jelly that was apparently made at the flower shop or something, and walked up to the counter. There was only a single cashier, and he was busy with some lady's hoard of food. While he was manually checking all of her items and figuring out how much they all cost with a calculator and pen. They were idly chatting while Eugene waited in line. Talk about customer service.

As he got up to the counter he dropped his stuff unceremoniously in front of the cashier, who smiled and began to ring up all of the items. Eugene handed over a few bills, grabbed his change and walked out of the store with another bag full of stuff. Liz was waiting outside this time.

"So are you ready to go eat lunch?" he asked.

She nodded and grabbed his hand again, leading him North, beyond all of the houses and little local shops and and into a field of flowers.

Eugene moved towards the field and set his bag down, but the girl stayed on the path.

"Aren't you gonna sit down?" he asked.

"No, the meadow is way more magical than this stupid place! Its past the trees! The flowers are all around you there, as far as the eye can see!" she protested.

Eugene picked up his bag when she came over and grabbed his hand, and began to nearly drag him along the path.

They continued on past the row of trees into what Eugene had to admit was a pretty astounding meadow. It delivered on the promise of flowers as far as the eye can see. Eugene could see a small cottage in the distance, but the girl just ran in the middle of the flowers and sat down, opening her backpack and digging out a lunch pail with a Roselia on the front. Eugene followed at a slower pace, and set his bags down nearby.

He sorted through his satchel and found his Pokéballs, releasing his Pokémon so they could eat. Then he began to dish out the food between the three of them. Cúchulainn was happily eating his food, as was expected, and Irusan was eating his food but seemed painfully aware that Cúchulainn was eating something better, and was staring at Cúchulainn the entire time. No Saint David. Eugene slapped together a sandwich for himself with what he had bought very quickly, and began to tear into it.

"Why do you want a girlfriend?" Liz asked.

"I just want a girlfriend, is that so complicated? You want a boyfriend when you grow up, don't you?" Eugene said.

"I guess. You just seem like you're trying really hard, is all. Its not good to be so angry," she said in between bites of crackers with cheese.

Eugene realized he was getting relationship advice from a little kid. Younger than the girls who helped him last night, too. No more younger girls from this point on, if they're below the age of 18 then you just ignore them completely. Its pathetic and probably not all that helpful. What do little kids know about relationships anyways?

"You have to try hard or else you'll never get what you want," Eugene said. "If I give up I'll be single forever!"

"I don't have a boyfriend and I don't mind at all," Liz said.

"Yeah well you're just a little kid! I know what I'm doing!"

Liz bit into an Oran Berry. Her face puckered at the taste, but she seemed to enjoy it because she bit into it again, her face puckering with each bite. She and Eugene didn't talk for the rest of lunch.

Cúchulainn fell asleep before he had even finished his can of food, and Irusan ate the rest before sitting down, staring at Eugene as if expecting something more.

When Liz was done, she packed her lunch box away in her backpack and stood up. She turned to Eugene and said, "I'd better get home. Thanks for taking me through the cave today."

"Won't you have to go to school tomorrow if you go back?" Eugene asked.

"School's bad, but all of my friends are there," she said.

"Oh, okay. Bye," Eugene said.

She walked back to town without another word, disappearing through the trees.

And despite his best efforts, Eugene couldn't help but feel alone.


	4. Chapter 4: Floaroma Town

The clean whoosh of the opening Pokémon Center doors greeted Eugene as he stepped inside with Irusan weaving around his legs. As Eugene had imagined, the inside of the Pokémon Center was empty save for a young couple sitting in the back near the map of Sinnoh. They didn't seem to be consulting it, just sitting idly and talking, waiting for something with coffee in hand.

Their presence seemed to contrast with the rest of the Pokémon Center, or at least with what Eugene associated with Pokémon Centers. They were clean and immaculately dressed, as if they had not been traveling today, and in that sense they fit in with the Pokémon Center's atmosphere very well. But it would be odd for a vacationing couple or locals to come to the Pokémon Center to just chat. Whenever Eugene went to the Pokémon Center in Jubilife for interviews he noticed that nearly every single person looked like they had been traveling or training, a sterile abode for the glamorous grime of Pokémon training. But these two people were just very well kept.

Eugene muttered an "Excuse me" as he squeezed past the couple to reach the map on the wall behind them. He needed to figure out where he would be going from here so he could put today and everything associated with it behind him. It was a cramped, hopelessly uneventful town with stuck up girls who weren't up to par.

He pressed his face against the map and placed his finger on Jubilife. He traced the path he had walked today, through Route 204 leading to Floaroma. It looked like there was only one road out of town, Route 205 leading North-East towards Eterna City. And no caves for him to conquest either, just grass and trees the entire way.

Eugene felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Can I get a look at your eyes?" asked the male-half of the couple, who was now standing uncomfortably close to Eugene.

"What?" Eugene said, turning around to see the male-half standing up, staring at Eugene. The female-half sat in the chair with Irusan in her lap, playing idly, as if she wasn't associated with this business at all.

The male-half's head whipped around to the female-half and squealed, "I was right! They do match!"

"What are you talking about?" Eugene asked, trying to back up against the wall.

"We're from a Pokémon Contest agency in Hearthome City. We were stopping by to see some friends and look into any upcoming talent, but the flower shop said no new coordinators had stopped by, just the regulars," the male-half said.

"A contest agency?"

"We sign Pokémon Coordinators. We pay for costumes, handle all of the dirty work, so our Coordinators can focus on putting on their shows." the female-half explained with words flowing like a gentle stream.

"And I think you've got, potential!" the male-half said, throwing his palms in an arc above his head and wiggling his fingers.

"I'm not interested," Eugene said, pushing past them and walking towards the exit.

"But you match your Shinx!" the male-half said.

Eugene paused and looked at Irusan. "I don't see any resemblance."

"Okay, okay, almost matching. We'd have to do something about your hair but it is your demeanor, your eyes, you are amazing together, naturally meant for each other! You can't buy that kind of zazzle!" the male-half said.

"Whats wrong with my hair?" Eugene asked.

"Nothings wrong with your hair, it just doesn't match your Shinx the way your eyes do. Such vivid blues, you go together perfectly! You could go far with synergy like that!" the male-half said.

"For the record, I like your curls, but they don't work with the Shinx," the female-half said.

"We need to channel the tough and cool vibe, curls are too frilly. You're gonna need to dye your hair and straighten it, or at least wear a hat. Maybe we could style it and go for a punk-rock theme," the male-half said, reaching out to touch Eugene's hair.

"I'm not interested in Pokémon contests," Eugene said, swatting the male-half's hand away.

The female-half sat silently, gently setting Irusan down on the floor, where he walked over to Eugene. The male-half stifled a laugh, and pulled a thin metal case out of his back pocket. He flipped it open and took a small card out, holding it out to Eugene.

"Just take our card and call us if you ever find yourself in need of some assistance, wherever you are. We'd be glad to help with anything," the male-half said with a smile that shouldn't be trusted.

Eugene gave the male half a shrewd stare, snapped up the card, shoved it into his pocket and said, "Fine. Now leave me alone."

The male-half threw his hands up in the air and turned around on his heels, and sat back down with his female-half.

Eugene turned around and walked outside, brushing past the doors as they slid open. Once they had shut, he looked around at Floaroma once again. He needed a place to stay, and while the town was small enough to enter every single shop until he found an inn, the prospect was not exactly comforting.

"Well, Irusan, I guess we're going to have to ask those Contest people if they know anything," Eugene said, looking down at the ground. But Irusan was not there. Eugene checked the ground on his other side, but Irusan was not there either. And he was not between his legs. Eugene turned all the way around and saw Irusan pawing at the glass door of the Pokémon Center, seemingly trying to open them with all the power of his large yellow eyes.

Eugene quickly stepped closer to the door, and it opened with a whooshing sound. Irusan ran out to join him, but Eugene walked back into the Pokémon Center, forcing Irusan to turn right around again in order to keep up.

The young couple stopped their conversation and stared at Eugene for a moment from across the room. Eugene took one look at them and realized that there was no way he could ask them for help, let alone ask the nurse in front of them, or even stand to be in the same room as them, so he kept walking over to the escalator that went upstairs. Irusan hesitated to get on the grated stairs, but after pawing at it to test its stability a few times, climbed on to follow Eugene upstairs.

The upstairs had the same color scheme as downstairs, but instead of being designed as an open meeting place for trainers, was clearly designed with efficiency in mind. A long counter with three brown-haired attendants, two doors, and a computer identical to the downstairs computer tucked in the corner. A few cushions and plants seemed to be there to simply occupy space.

"Do you know where I can find a place to stay for the night?" Eugene asked.

Two of the attendants simply looked blankly at the wall, but the one nearest Eugene smiled and said, "Jubilife City is not very far away and there is a wide range of options for all price ranges."

"I meant in town," Eugene said. He wasn't walking back to Jubilife just to come back to Floaroma the next day.

"Of course, in town. Right across the street there is an inn," she said, pointing the direction.

"Thank you," Eugene said while turning around to take the escalator downstairs. Irusan followed onto the escalator without hesitation this time.

As he descended into the lobby again, he tried his hardest not to look at the young couple while walk purposefully and keeping his eyes firmly set on the doors. He made sure Irusan made it through the doors and walked straight on over to the inn.

That night in the inn, Eugene sat on one end of his bed with Cúchulainn right beside him, and Irusan curled up on the other end of the bed. Cúchulainn's mouth was wide open, tongue flopping around everywhere as his head followed even Eugene's slightest movements. Eugene had the contents of his bag scattered on nearly every surface of the room for him to examine and evaluate.

Normally Eugene didn't organize his things, since it took too much time, but this room was off-putting. The inn wasn't much of an inn, and more of a guest bedroom in the family's house. His bathroom was also their daughters bathroom and was appropriately filled with Cherrim shower curtains and Ponyta towels, the closet was used to store suitcases and blankets and other things that the family clearly had no proper place for, and the room was full of pictures with large groups of people standing in front of strange vacation landmarks that Eugene didn't recognize and lace doilies that were probably heirlooms, a compromise between honoring whoever they were inherited from and hiding such un-stylish décor.

So when he had tried to go to sleep a few hours earlier, it didn't work. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was sleeping in someone else's house, mostly because he was. It was a very different feeling than sleeping in a hotel room manufactured to instill a sense of home-away-from-home comforts. It was someone else's space, a distinctly foreign room.

After what must have been hours of trying to fall asleep, he had decided that if he couldn't fall asleep, the best thing to do was prepare for the next day's journey to Eterna City. With everything he had brought, along with the food he had bought earlier and the extra groceries he bought for tomorrow's trip and his new flashlight, there wasn't enough room in his bag anymore. He'd have to live with just the essentials.

The essentials were as follows. Poffin. Peanut butter. Jelly. Cúchulainn's food. Irusan's food. Water bottle. Silverware. Pokéballs. Potions. Flashlight. Jacket. Scarf. Extra shirt. Extra pants. Extra underwear. Extra extra underwear. Extra socks. Hat. Sunglasses. Sunscreen. Swimsuit. Beach towel. Toothbrush. Toothpaste. Floss. Mouthwash. Retainer. Shaving razor. Shaving cream. Extra razors. Shampoo. Conditioner. Body wash. Hand sanitizer. Nail clippers. Condoms. Cologne. Deodorant. Shower towel. Bandages. College-Ruled notebook. An art pad notebook. A set of 3x5 cards. Pencil. Eraser. Pencil Sharpener. Extra pencil. Scissors. Colored pencils. Watercolors. Pens. Rubber bands. Paper clips. A folder with important papers. Scotch tape. Duct tape. Pokégear. Pokégear charger. Camera. Camera charger. DS. DS charger. DS games. GBA games. Headphones. Cúchulainn's favorite chew toy. Cúchulainn's second favorite chew toy. Peanut butter to put in Cúchulainn's second favorite chew toy. House keys. A few spare TMs. Spare batteries. Universal TV remote. A copy of Infinite Jest bookmarked on page 19. A coupon book for the Jubilife Department Store. An English to Czech Translation Pocket Book. Important Sticky Notes. Movie ticket stubs. Extension cords. Shopping bags. A Lucky Buneary's Foot. Dice. A wallet containing 23000 Pokédollars, a TV press pass, two Buy-10-Get-1-Free Jubilife Frogurt Stamp Cards with three stamps on each, and a bunch of receipts. And only about half of it could reasonably fit into his bag.

Unfortunately, as tiring as narrowing it down to the essentials was, not all of the essentials could fit in Eugene's bag, so he would have to reduce it even further to the extremely essential, and leave the rest behind in his PC.

Eugene had a hard time figuring out what he could part with and what was extremely essential. Obviously food and water were important, as were the Pokéballs, potions and flashlight. He needed his clothes, though he could store his jacket and scarf and maybe his extra extra underwear. He wouldn't need his beach stuff this far north because he'd be moving more inland. Hygienic products could not be left behind, but he didn't need all of the spare razors. After much deliberation it was concluded that he would not need three forms of paper to write on, so he chose to take the 3x5 cards and the art pad along with the pencils, eraser, pencil sharpener and pen, leaving behind the rubber bands and paper clips. The folder could not be left behind. Both kinds of tape were to be discarded. He definitely needed the Pokégear and Pokégear charger. And the camera was essential, so the charger would be taken as well. And you never know when you want your DS so he took that and its charger as well, but Eugene convinced himself to leave behind a few of his games that he hadn't played in years. The headphones weren't important but they weren't that big so he took them anyways. Cúchulainn's chew toys were brought on this journey for a reason, but the peanut butter just for them was left behind. Eugene could get by with just one jar of peanut butter. House keys were not to be parted with, but he knew he would never use "his" TMs because they were a bit pricey and using them felt a bit like cheating. Spare batteries were always useful, even though he didn't have anything that would use batteries except for the Universal TV remote, which just couldn't fit in anywhere. He was already on page 19 of Infinite Jest so he might as well finish it, so it would come with them. While the deals in the coupon book were fantastic it didn't have anything related to where he was going, so it would be left behind. The English to Czech translation pocket book was an unfortunate victim of this cleansing and would not be brought because Eugene couldn't think of the last time he had met someone who only spoke Czech. Most of the important sticky notes weren't that important in retrospect, as were the movie ticket stubs, so they were excised from the bag. Extension cords were the stuff of legends and could never be parted with. The shopping bags were from earlier that day and Eugene wasn't quite sure why he had laid them out with everything, and decided to leave them behind. It was firmly decided upon that luck was for the weak and both the Lucky Buneary's Foot and one of the two die were left behind. Eugene took the Frogurt card and receipts out of his wallet to reduce its bulk but kept everything else.

At this point, everything could just barely fit into his bag, but he had made it fit with a bit of clever packing and putting some of the smaller things in his pockets instead, which was admittedly a pretty shoddy compromise but one he was willing to make if it meant he was done organizing his things.

With nothing left to do until the morning when he planned on starting the long walk to Eterna City, Eugene started getting ready for bed again. As he crawled under the sheets he noticed Irusan at the foot of his bed, and couldn't help but think about what the male Contest representative had said earlier. He scooped Irusan up in his hand and walked out to the bathroom, where he lifted the Shinx up next to his head in the mirror.

It was true that Eugene's eyes were almost the exact same blue as Irusan's fur, but the only similarity in demeanor he could find was that they were both very weary and would rather be sleeping. And his hair was not frilly. All the same, Eugene couldn't help but think that if something like this could be abused to impress a judge in a contest, it might be able to impress other people.

Knowing that something was going his way, and that it might pay off if he played his cards right, Eugene crawled into the inn's bed with Irusan at his side, and Cúchulainn drooling all over the sheets, and fell asleep, content.


	5. Chapter 5: Eterna Forest

Eugene sat on a large rock, digging through his bag, while Cúchulainn and Irusan played tag in the thick grass below. He had checked his email this morning as usual, but he had wanted to leave town as soon as possible and did not have time to read them in the Pokémon Center, so he printed them out and found a way to get them in his meticulously arranged bag. Now that he was lost in the forest, Eugene thought it was the perfect time to take a break.

He straightened out the papers by loosely holding the sides and tapping them on his knee, and tilted them so he could read it easily. The midday light that passed through the treetops made reading pleasant. There was enough light to see clearly, but the trees shaded Eugene. He couldn't help but think that it was picturesque, and if he knew where he was he would definitely consider taking a girl there later.

The first email read:

_ Yo Dawg, _

_ Where you been? Sometimes when I don't hear from you I get worried. Ever since last year, Justin drowned in that creek and we didn't figure it out for like four days. So yeah, Eugene, I hope you're not like in a creek or something haha. BTW I hear theres a party at Marcy's house on Friday. You wanna come? BYOB. There'll be some women there, if you know what I mean haha ;) _

_ See ya! _

_ Chet _

Eugene liked to think that he and Chet were merely acquaintances, though in the past year Eugene spent enough time with Chet that they couldn't really be considered just acquaintances. But Eugene didn't really consider him a friend, either. And Marcy was Chet's not-entirely-official girlfriend, who encouraged a habit of drunken "parties" where the three of them got together and didn't do anything worth doing. And there definitely weren't going to be any women there.

He flipped to the second email, which read:

_Hey Eugene!_

_ TJ said that he saw you the other day and you were still hanging out in Jubilife with your crappy job at the TV station. What are you still doing there? I know you can do better than that._

_ Anyways, you obviously need a bit of motivation, so I'm coming to visit you. I'll be in Jubilife around next week, so I'll need your new address. You have at least moved out of your parents house, right? Even you aren't that lame._

_ Until then,_

_ Kyle_

Eugene couldn't help but be offended that his friend felt the need to come fetch him. His life in Jubilife hadn't been that bad. His life as a Pokémon Trainer certainly hadn't been any better so far. Back home he never had to fight his way through dark caves, sleep in strange places, and he'd had his meals cooked for him. Not bad at all.

Of course, Eugene wasn't faltering in his mission. He needed a girlfriend, and he'd already seen that staying at home wasn't going to get him one. So, in the sense that, as long as he was training his Pokémon he could get a girlfriend, his new life was potentially much better than his old life. He just wasn't sure if he wanted to see Kyle at this point. The email seemed a bit condescending, and he felt the need to prove Kyle wrong.

And then, he heard a rustling in the undergrowth.

Eugene peered into the impenetrable forest that lay before him, and quickly found the source. Hiding behind a tree was a large, orange St. David, trying his best to remain unseen with his hands covering his face. Hiding an enormous bright-orange Dragonite in a forest of green didn't really work.

"St. David, you made it out! Come here quick, so I don't lose you again!" He threw the emails on the ground and lurched into his bag, trying to find some food to lure him with.

St. David stayed behind the tree, silent, as if he believed he could not be seen.

"St. David, come on! You can't hide forever!"

St. David only offered his silent dissent as a response.

As Eugene stared at St. David, debating whether he should go in there and get the stupid Dragonite out himself, he fell off of the rock. Eugene almost caught himself on the ground with his forearm, and propped himself up to look at what pushed him over.

She had light, bobbed hair, and a wide nose. Her tank top, shorts, boots and sweatshirt tied around her waist made her look much more prepared for a hike than Eugene. Her backpack was much smaller than Eugene's bag, and had two Pokéballs clipped onto the straps. She was stroking the rock, her gaze fixed in its curvature.

"What's your problem?" Eugene yelled.

"I needed a closer," she said nasally, her nose was pressed flat against the rock now, "look at the rock." She paused for a few moments, rolling her head on the moss, breathing deeply. "And you were sitting on it."

"Yeah but you ask people to move, you don't just knock them off!" he said.

It seemed the girl was taking pages from St. David's book, as she had proceeded to wrap both arms around the rock, alternating between listening to the rock and sniffing it, and even licking it lightly. It was as if she was a snake, constricting around its prey, savoring the moment.

Eugene looked around for St. David, but he was nowhere to be seen now.

The girl began to make buzzing noises with her forehead pressed against the rock.

Eugene began to gather his things, slipping his emails back into his satchel and retrieving Irusan into his Pokéball. Getting out of here soon would be best.

"C'mon, Cúchulainn, we'd better get going," Eugene said. Cúchulainn sprung onto all fours, and then let his tongue fall out of his mouth as he trotted to Eugene's side.

"Oh, you're leaving already?" the girl said, her back stretched out over the rock, head upside down. "Are you sure you know the way out?"

"Not exactly sure, but-"

"I know the way out." The girl was now on her stomach on top of the rock, each limb reaching for the ground. "If you come with me, I can get you to Eterna City before nightfall."

It was tempting. To be completely honest, she wasn't unattractive, if you could get past the crazy bits. Very fit, and while hardly fashionable, her clothes were at least flattering. And she had made the offer to Eugene, meaning she wanted to spend time with him. The prospects of this encounter resulting in a relationship were very real. And once he got to know her a little better, maybe there would be a method to her madness?

But then again, she was clearly insane.

"I can do better," Eugene said to her as he continued to walk.

The forest path was surrounded by lots of green and the elevation change was minimal, so it was easy to look at and to walk along. The only real problem was the fact that everything looked exactly the same. The monotony was only broken by the weak bug Pokémon here and there, which Cúchulainn took care of easily.

About fifteen minutes later, Eugene rounded a corner and saw the girl sitting on the rock, with an Ambipom and Staravia standing in front of her. The girl smiled when she saw Eugene, and she waved to him, beckoning him forward.

"You can't do better than me!" she said, rocking back and forth on the rock. "I can navigate through this forest better than anybody!"

Eugene was dumbstruck. It looked like she had been waiting for him. But there were many paths he could have taken, she couldn't have known he would end up right back where he started from!

"So, are we," she pushed off of the rock, and then recalled her Pokémon into their Pokéballs in a swift motion, "going to get going?"

"Uh, yeah," Eugene said, walking to meet her. He couldn't help but feel that his gait was stiff and awkward.

"My name's Eugene," he said, forcing a smile and holding out his hand to shake.

"That's a pleasant name," she said. She began to walk away. "We've wasted a lot of time waiting for you to get back here," she looked over her shoulder at Cúchulainn, as if she was talking to him, "so we had better move quickly."

"So, what's your name?" Eugene asked, trailing a few feet behind her.

"My name," she skipped a step and then reverted to her normal walk, "is Joanne."

They both continued to walk in the forest. Joanne never hesitated when choosing a path, and occasionally walked off of the well worn path into a thick patch of trees, only to come back to the path a few feet ahead. Her pace was erratic, with bursts of jogging followed by slow, pensive steps.

For Eugene, the situation was painful. Walking alone in the forest with nobody to talk to was one thing, but walking in the forest with someone to talk to and having no clue how to begin a conversation was painful. She wasn't initiating any conversation, and Eugene wasn't sure if she was waiting for him to make his move, or whether she simply enjoyed silence, or that she was feeling the same way and hiding it, or that she possibly delighted in torturing him. He wouldn't put it past her. But he needed something to break the silence.

"Do you mind if I ask why you were molesting that rock?"

"The Mossy Rock," Joanne said, "Is rumored to have strange," she turned around to face Eugene, now walking backwards, with her arms stretched beside her to keep balance, "qualities, that make some Pokémon," she hopped in the air and spun back around so she was facing forwards, "evolve."

"How does a rock make a Pokémon evolve?" Eugene asked.

"A good question. That's what I was trying," she bent her head backwards, looking at Eugene while her body still faced forward, "to ascertain. It is difficult without more data, but," she stopped, held her hand out in front of Eugene, and whispered "I don't have what is necessary to get the data."

Eugene opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but she held a finger up to his lips to shush him. Then, she stared into his eyes, and pointed the finger at a particularly thick throng of trees, connected by thin silk strands that twinkled in the light.

"Be careful. It's a large group of Pokémon, and some of the chrysali have already hatched," she whispered, and then resumed walking, though now with a slow, methodical pace.

Eugene nodded. He couldn't tell from this distance whether they were Silcoon or Cascoon, but either way he didn't see why he should be afraid of them. He was sure Cúchulainn could take them down pretty easily.

He took a step closer to see if he could tell which species it was. He wasn't confident on his ability to tell the difference, since most battles they recorded at the station were between trainers with fully evolved Pokémon, and even then most trainers didn't have such weak Pokémon on their teams. Silcoon's silk was softer than Cascoon's, right?

He heard a snap. Looking down, Eugene saw that he had stepped on a stray twig. He looked up, and saw that the trees were now full of large eyes, staring at him, blinking. He was an intruder. He was a villain. He had to be stopped.

A flood of bright colors erupted from the trees. Immediately he could feel the pricking of proboscis as they prodded at his body to find something to feed upon, aiming to deter the large beast away from their nest. Eugene tried to swat them away, but their sheer numbers overwhelmed him.

"Cúchulainn, attack!" Eugene yelled.

He saw a flurry of purple limbs whirl in front of him, clearing a path. One picked him up and retrieved him from the swarm, setting him down on the ground next to Joanne with only a few Beautifly still attached, which Eugene tried to bat away.

"Hold still," Joanne said.

Eugene suddenly felt a slow, smooth pulling sensation in his back, as if something inside of him was being eased out from behind, like a snake bursting through his skin and leaving. He gasped for breath and lurched forward onto the ground, which pulled at his insides. He craned his neck back, looking for the cause.

Joanne was holding a struggling Beautifly in her bloody hands, and said, "I told you to hold still."

Eugene reached to feel his back. His hand flinched as it met a bloody patch and tender, exposed flesh.

"I'm not a doctor," Joanne reached into her bag, "but, I can patch," and pulled out a bundle of fabric, "you up for now." She walked over to him, and began to lift his shirt up.

Eugene resisted her effort, tugging his shirt down, "What do you think you're doing?"

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "Let me take care of you."

Eugene took off his shirt, and sat with his back straight and arms extended so that Joanne could reach all the way around as she knelt beside him, wrapping the fabric around his chest.

Separated from the action, Eugene could take in everything that was going on. Cúchulainn was wrapped in flames as he fended off a few Beautifly, but he wasn't nearly taking down as many as Joanne's Ambipom. Between its six limbs, it was less of a Pokémon and more of a whirlwind of destruction, a true marvel.

"Joanne, your Ambipom is amazing!" Eugene said.

"Sarah is," Joanne said, clearly not focusing on the battle, "an experienced fighter."

Eugene watched 'Sarah' the Ambipom smash two Beautifly together while chattering maniacally. Cúchulainn was putting up a decent fight of his own. And between the two of them, the swarm was thinning quickly.

But Eugene couldn't keep his eyes on the battlefield for long. He and Joanne were very close. She sPoké strangely and acted bizarre, but her hands were graceful. They wound the cloth around him, gentle to the touch but firm enough to be effective, occasionally brushing against his body. As they reached around it was as if Joanne was embracing him, pulling him closer to her.

Was that look in her eyes concern? Were they filled with the sorrow inspired by Eugene's terrible fate, which she could do nothing to prevent? The agony and torment of souls, knowing that, having just met, they would be torn from one another forever by none other than cruel death? Or was this pulling her way of showing her undying passion for him, her personal expression of love. It made sense, her bizarre behavior was actually her way of hiding her complete and utter devotion to Eugene. 

It was all so clear. But the question was, what should Eugene do about it? Should he reciprocate? Should he fully embrace her? Run his fingers through her hair and hold her close? Perhaps a kiss? Was that what she wanted? Would she be angry if he didn't do anything? Would she be angry if he did do something? Even though she had the hots for him, she might appreciate if he waited more than a few hours after meeting her to kiss her. There was something to be said for taking your time in a relationship, right? But at the same time, he needed to be assertive. If he waited for too long, surely someone else would snatch her up! The hearts of women are fickle, and he had no doubt that her affections could wander. He had to get what he could while he could. So he'd have to kiss her, and make his intentions known.

Before Eugene could make his move, Joanne to ran out of cloth and tied the end up tightly, then handed Eugene back his shirt. She stood up and brushed her knees off, turning her head towards the battlefield, and was greeted with a large Ambipom thrusting itself upon her, wrapping its many limbs around her chest, rubbing its face against hers.

Cúchulainn ran up to Eugene and stood up, resting his paws on Eugene's shoulders. He then began to lick Eugene's face with his enormous tongue. It was not quite the oral assault that Eugene had been preparing for.

"You did a good job, didn't you, boy?" Eugene said, trying to regain composure while reaching both hands behind Cúchulainn's neck to scratch his mane.

Joanne returned Sarah the Ambipom into it's Pokéball, and then looked at Eugene. "Now that we got that out of the way, shall we continue?"

Eugene gently pushed Cúchulainn off of himself, and stood up to look Joanne in the eyes. "Yeah, that sounds good." He rearranged his shirt, which didn't fit very comfortably over his bandages, tried his best to ignore the pain of his wound, and set off to follow Joanne, who was already several steps ahead.

Eugene wasn't sure if he had missed his opportunity. Since they had began walking again, Joanne had remained several steps in front of him, and she didn't say anything. He couldn't blame her, he couldn't think of anything to say either. There was just too much sexual tension! It was impossible to think with all of these rampaging hormones! Eugene knew it was up to him to make the move, but he wasn't sure what to do. These things required finesse, not just any line would do.

By finesse, he meant that he couldn't just outright say that he wanted to get with her. That was stupid. He'd have to suggest, imply, use vivid hand gestures even, as long as he didn't directly say it. Even knowing this, thinking of exactly how to do it was stressful. It was so easy to screw things up. He had to be flawless.

"So," Eugene began, "Joanne."

"Yes," Her body curved backwards, her expression was blank. "Eugene?"

"Do you," Eugene continued, "Enjoy the company of," he was doing great, "boys?"

"Yes?" Joanne answered.

"That is," Eugene retreated, "good."

"Yes," she said, turning back around, facing the path once again. "It is."

Eugene wasn't sure how that went. On one hand, it felt incredibly strange. Like it had been driven below the barriers of normal human interaction into some strange environment, where words had far too many meanings and grammar was an accursed foe. The speaker was locked in combat against these troubling concepts in his efforts to communicate an idea clearly. And his body seemed to ache. But on the other hand, every conversation with Joanne was a strange one, and he was wounded, and she did say she liked boys, which was essentially not rejecting him, right?

Eugene looked down to Cúchulainn for help. He was a few steps behind Eugene, with a dangling tongue that was dripping with slobber, like some twisted Growlithe-inspired version of Hansel and Gretel. Cúchulainn noticed he was being looked at, barked, and sped up. Eugene took it as a good sign, and decided that this interaction with Joanne had been a pleasant one. He would need to have a few more conversations to lock himself in, of course, but as far as starts went, this was hardly the worst.

Joanne's head turned around. Was she looking at Eugene? Her face made her seem intent on doing something. She shook her head, and then faced forward again.

"Are you aware," she said, "that a large orange Pokémon is following you around?"

Eugene spun around, hoping to see St. David, but there was just empty, boring forest. Eugene said, "Is it a Dragonite?"

"I' have never seen one before," Joanne said, "I don't know what species it is."

"St. David is my dad's Dragonite. He has been following me around all morning," Eugene explained.

Joanne said, "Oh."

"He's friendly," Eugene said.

"He didn't look," Joanne said, "threatening."

"He isn't." Eugene said.

And Eugene had successfully completed another conversation. At this rate, he could hook up with Joanne in no time. Honestly, this whole ordeal was much easier than he had been led to believe by his encounters yesterday. Everybody has a few false starts before they get their rhythm, right? He had just gone too quickly, brought up the point a little too soon. But with Joanne he'd take his time, and probably be making out with her later tonight.

But for the time being, they returned to their walk. The steady sound of their feet and the occasional call of a wild Pokémon seemed to fade into silence once they became custom. The forest became no more than an unending trail, a wandering, twisting pathway with no discernible origin or terminus, just long rows of nearly identical trees and wicked grasses.

"We are getting," Joanne began before trailing off, staring at the sun in the sky. The sky was a vivid array of purple and orange, but the sun itself could not be seen in the gap between the trees, "close to Eterna City."

"Looks like you kept your promise, then." Eugene said, smiling, trying to walk closer to her.

"I don't make," Joanne said, "promises I can't keep."

But then, Joanne stopped walking, and she held out her hand. She looked at her Pokétch, and turned her head to Eugene. "Wait a second."

"What's going on?" Eugene asked.

Joanne took a few steps in one direction, turned around and took a few steps in another, turned around and took a few steps in another, turned around and took a few steps in another, and then turned to face Eugene.

"According to my Dowsing Machine," Her hand gestured towards a flimsy, withering tree, "There is something here."

"Joanne, that is a tree." Eugene said.

"You have to look past the tree, Eugene," Joanne said.

Eugene looked past the small tree. He just saw even more trees. "I just see even more trees."

"Well, I'm going to," Joanne bent the tree in half, walked past it, and let it spring back into place, "check it out. Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Eugene asked.

"I won't be getting you out," Joanne's head peeked out from behind the tree, "of the forest by sundown. The city is not far from," her fingers raced along the edges of the thin branch, her focus drifting skyward once again, making it seem as if she wasn't actually speaking to Eugene, "here, if you don't want to come with me."

Eugene wasn't stupid. This was a challenge. No wonder Joanne had been so distant earlier! She had proven that she could take care of him, now he had to prove that he could take care of her. After all, relationships were not one-sided affairs. So Eugene had to prove that he could be a masculine presence in her life, just as she had shown him that she could be a tender caregiver.

He bent back the branch and followed Joanne into the odd corridor. His shoulders brushed against the branches of the trees on either side, and Cúchulainn couldn't walk alongside Eugene anymore because of the lack of room. Cúchulainn did not mind, because he solved the issue by bounding between Eugene's legs at any chance, which became something of a game to him. But the path was shorter than it had seemed, and before Eugene knew it, they were all standing in a clearing in front of an old, large mansion.

Joanne's watch was beeping like crazy, but she just stood, staring at the house.

"Joanne, are you going to turn your watch off?" Eugene asked.

"This house," Joanne began to speak, "Has a strange aura."

"Is that what is setting off your watch?" Eugene asked.

Joanne did not reply.

Eugene looked at her. Her eyes were hungry. She just stared at the house, as if it were a puzzle, intent on dissecting it and learning from it. And then she approached it. At first hesitantly, but then more firmly, until her hand was on the handle, turning and tugging at the old door. But it would not move. She ceased struggling almost immediately, and stared at the handle.

Eugene walked up to her once again, a bit wary.

Her head turned to Eugene, in a moment of cognizance. "There is a key we need to find."

"What?"

"There is a key," she said, "that will open the door."

Eugene couldn't help but feel that this was obvious.

"Find the key, Eugene," Joanne said. She turned him around, and pushed him away. "You search the Eastern half of the yard, I'll take the Western half."

"What, am I just supposed to look in the grass?" Eugene asked.

"No. Look in hiding places, look where someone," she said, "might have kept a spare key."

Eugene didn't find this very helpful. He had never had a spare key to his parent's apartment hidden anywhere before, and wasn't entirely certain where to begin. But he figured he had better look, if he was going to prove himself as worthy to Joanne. Though, to be honest, part of him just wanted to lay down and rest. His back was aching and he was feeling a bit light-headed, and suspected that he had lost a bit more blood than he had thought. But then again, this was all part of the challenge, right? The ability to withstand the physical torment, surpass the body's weakness for the sake of love!

He walked to the furthest point of the house, where it bent round in a corner. The yard itself was nothing special, just a lot of overgrown grass like everywhere else in the forest, surrounded by the same trees as earlier. The house itself was rather plain. Just old walls covered with dreary grey-green moss, topped with an old, tiled roof.. Nothing too special.

Eugene rested his back against the wall, and then slumped down, sitting lazily on the ground.

Cúchulainn barked and ran forward, pausing for a moment next to Eugene where he walked around in a circle, before running past him and sniffing along the bottom of the wall. He stopped to paw at a particular spot, whining while looking back and forth between the wall and Eugene.

Eugene rolled his head onto his shoulder to look at Cúchulainn. He knew he should probably go check it out, but once you were already on the ground it was like, who could expect you to seriously get up? It was ridiculous.

Cúchulainn, unfortunately in tune with Eugene's very thoughts, trotted over to Eugene and began tugging at his sleeve, pulling him towards the spot on the wall. Eugene let this continue for a few minutes before collapsing on top of Cúchulainn, who proceeded to lug Eugene over to the spot in question and shake him off.

Now that Eugene's face was thrust against the wall, he noticed that this particular brick was not actually a brick at all. It was a vivid green stone tablet, smooth and clean. Eugene hoisted himself up so that he was kneeling on the ground, and wriggled it out of the house's framework. Sure enough, in the gap there was a key.

Eugene grabbed it, and scooped Cúchulainn up in his other arm, and stood up, and then buckled over from the pain in his back, and then tried his best to stand up straight as he walked around to the other side of the mansion, finding Joanne hunched over, inspecting individual blades of grass.

"I found the key," Eugene said, dangling it in front of her with his free arm.

Joanne's head whipped around, eyes wide. She stood up and grabbed the key, walking over to the door just as she had before, rammed it into the handle, turned the key, and then turned the handle. The door creaked open, leading into the dark innards. Joanne led the way in, and Eugene followed, holding onto Cúchulainn.

The stale air wafted into Eugene's nostrils. In the dim light, Eugene could make out a large foyer. Two staircases led to an upper level, and in between them was a solitary door, guarded by a decrepit statue of a Rhydon. The tiled floor was cracked, and in some places entire tiles were missing. In the corners, there were dead trees standing in pots, long neglected. Eugene could tell that, at one point, this manor had been a luxurious place, but it had fallen into disrepair. The only noise was the increasingly insistent beeping from Joanne's watch, which echoed through the open space.

For a moment they both stood there, taking it all in.

"So, was this place abandoned?" Eugene asked.

"We'll have," Joanne said, "to look," her gaze fixed itself upon the door between the stairs, "around."

She began to walk forward, but Eugene set Cúchulainn down and painfully jogged in front of her. Proving himself by finding the key was only the first challenge, now he had to show that he was adventurous and unafraid to look into the unknown. And the first step was to just go through this door.

A simple twist of the handle, and a quick step into darkness was all it took.

In the dim light, Eugene could make out a large, ornate dining table, with curved legs and a large, worn tablecloth. There were several candelabras and vases sitting on the table, with half-spent candles and long-wilted flowers adorning each in a display of long-forgotten elegance. The rest of the room seemed to fade into black, and Eugene could not see how far back it stretched.

Joanne stepped in behind Eugene.

"So, there's nothing in this room, let's check out the upstairs!" Eugene said, forcing his way back towards the door.

"Well, I haven't really checked it out thoroughly," Joanne said, hesitant to leave, "but it doesn't look like anything is going on in here."

Eugene entered the foyer again, walking at a brisk pace towards the staircase, with Joanne taking her time behind him.

His first step on the East-stairs was hesitant. While the house seemed stable, he didn't want the stairs to collapse beneath him, which he thought was prone to happen. Not to mention, his entire torso ached with every step, and walking up stairs was sure to do a number on them. But, sure enough, it seemed to be steady. It could support his and Cúchulainn's weight, at least, which was really all he could ask for in this case.

He took each step slowly, methodically testing each step and placing each foot on lightly, hoping not to upset the stairs, clutching tightly on the marble handrail. It was a slow climb. Joanne walked up the opposite Western-staircase without a worry. He was being shown up by a girl! But girls liked stable, reliable guys who took their time to do a good job, right? Eugene decided he could catch up with her. He had already proven himself twice, she could assert her feminism in her own little way if that was what she wanted to do.

Once he and Cúchulainn had gotten to the top of the stairs, Eugene saw Joanne come out of a door on the West side of the building, shaking her head. Eugene noticed that there was an identical door on his side as well.

"It is just," Joanne shouted across the way, "books. I'll investigate later if I need to, but we're looking for something different." She pointed to the door opposite the one she had just exited, and said, "Double check that that one is the same. If there's something actually interesting, come get me."

Eugene gave her a thumbs up, and walked into the door Joanne had just pointed to. That room was also just full of tall bookshelves, chock-full of Pokémon books and photo collections. After a quick look, he realized that, while safe, it wasn't worth his time if he wasn't getting any man-points for looking at the books. The real adventure was elsewhere in this house.

Leaving the book room, he realized that Joanne had already continued on without him into the Northern room. He followed her presumed path, crossing a plush carpeted threshold into what was a very long, dark hallway. He could see it stretch towards both the right and left, with many doors. Joanne walked out of the door right in front of him.

"Nothing in the," Joanne asked, "book room?"

Eugene shook his head, and said, "Nothing in there?"

"Beds," Joanne said, "and not much else."

"So, go on to the next room?" Eugene asked.

Joanne nodded, and walked to the left, entering the door, leaving it open for Eugene and Cúchulainn to walk in.

The room was, like the others, decrepit, and had its own fair share of books strewn across the floor. Whoever used to live here was big on reading, it seemed. However, there was something, and Joanne smiled upon seeing it. In the middle of the room there was a old CRT television, flickering madly with a grin on the screen.

"Is this what you're looking for?" Eugene asked.

"Maybe, let's see," Joanne said, wandering around the television. "It's not plugged into anything. That's a plus."

"How is that a plus?" Eugene asked, "It doesn't make sense! The TV should not be on if it isn't plugged in."

"It's a plus because," Joanne said, resting her head on top of the television, listening to it's innards, "it makes this much more interesting."

"So what do we do with our demonic TV?" Eugene asked.

"Well, we just gotta give it a little coaxing, and it'll show us what we want to see," she said with a coy smile.

Joanne began to pet the television, murmuring softly to it. The television flickered on like always, the grin on the screen still grinning.

"That's not doing anything," Eugene said.

"You're right, we have to," Joanne said, "change our approach. Any suggestions?"

Eugene shooed her away from the television, and grasped the sides. He cleared his throat, rolled his neck, widened his stance, and violently shook the television from side to side.

The television crackled a bit, and Eugene felt a jolt run through his fingers, but otherwise the smile on the screen remained resolute in it's will to stay in the television.

"Wait, get out of the way of the screen," Joanne said, pushing Eugene away, "I have an idea."

Eugene backed off, and stood against the wall. Joanne raised her fist up and then thumped on the television, and in a burst of light something ejected from the screen.

It had a rotund orange body with a single spike on top, with big blue eyes and a blue aura around it, and lightning extending from the aura, reaching out and grasping for just about anything. It made a cackling noise, though it's gleeful little smile had not changed.

Joanne pulled a red metal device off of her belt and flipped it open, focusing it on the Pokémon. "It's a Rotom, a ghost-type Pokémon, known to inhabit appliances. Pretty rare, by the looks of it."

"A ghost?" Eugene asked. "Does that mean that this house is haunted? Is that why it was abandoned?"

"You don't need to," Joanne said, "worry. Ghost Pokémon should be treated," she said, "just like any other Pokémon."

"So, are we going to fight it?" Eugene asked.

"I'm going to catch it," Joanne said, pulling a Pokéball off of her belt, which she tossed between her and the Rotom, releasing the Ambipom once again.

"Okay, Sarah, surprise it!" Joanne said.

The Ambipom curled up in a ball and rolled over to the Rotom, and once it was close, flipped open, making a loud screech and whacking the Rotom with multiple limbs. The Rotom was certainly surprised, and it was knocked backward, stunned once again.

Joanne reached into her bag and grabbed a blue Pokéball, and tossed it at the Rotom. Eugene watched the ball roll around a bit, sparking and sputtering, until it came to a rest. Joanne went to pick it up off the floor, and grinned.

"It's name is," she said, "Max."

"Why Max?" Eugene asked.

"It seems like a Max," Joanne said, "to me." clipping it onto her belt. She turned to her Ambipom, and gave it a high five with it's tail. "Sarah, you did a fantastic job." After returning the Ambipom to it's Pokéball, she took another look at her watch, which had not stopped beeping.

"Guess what?" Joanne said, looking at Eugene, who was still pressed against the wall, trying to stay out of the action.

"Uh, we can leave now?" Eugene asked.

"Wrong, but we," Joanne said, "are close to finding it."

She readjusted her backpack on her back and started to head for the door, motioning with her head to suggest that Eugene should follow, which he did. She had definitely out-manned him in that battle, and Eugene was racking his mind to figure out how he could show her up at this point. He supposed he could find what she was looking for, but she had the watch to help her out, which meant that he probably couldn't find whatever it was.

"What is it, anyways?" Eugene asked.

Joanne turned in the hallway and walked inside the final door.

Eugene thought that it was a bit strange that they were looking for something so arbitrary. Did Joanne really work towards such ill-defined goals, at all costs? It seemed counter-intuitive. Why would you bother working towards something if you weren't even sure if you wanted it?

Now, getting a girlfriend was a respectable, easily defined goal. You either had a girlfriend or you didn't, and there was no question as to whether a girlfriend was a girlfriend or not. This was why Eugene was so smart, he knew what he wanted. Clear, definite, achievable goals were the path to success.

By the time Eugene had walked into the final, windowless room, Joanne had already began to tear it apart, tearing books out of the shelves, examining them with her flashlight.

"I thought you said we weren't going to bother with books," Eugene said.

"We'll bother with," Joanne's head erupted from a stack of books, "books when we're," and she crawled over to another stack, "this close to what we're trying to find."

"How will you know when we find what we are trying to find?" Eugene asked.

Joanne began to toss books behind her, "We'll know."

"But-" Eugene said, picking up a book.

"Eugene," Joanne took a look at him, glaring with a surprising amount of lucidity behind in her eyes, "start looking."

Once he had fished his flashlight out of his bag to see in the darkness, Eugene surveyed the room. Just shelves, and a few stools to reach the higher parts of the shelves. It was, essentially, just like the room she had told him to ignore earlier.

He walked up to the only shelf that Joanne hadn't touched yet, which was against the back wall, and began to rifle through the books. Flipping through the pages, shaking them out, endless tomes of sealed knowledge that he didn't care to retrieve.

It was clear to Eugene that whoever lived in this place really liked to read. And they were clearly rich, given the fact that the house was enormous. You don't just build a house like this without money. Which would also explain why they were able to leave in such a hurry, leaving behind so many of their things. They could always get new things. Things were replaceable. But what would drive them to replace those things if it wasn't necessary? A single Rotom? Considering how deftly Joanne and her Ambipom dealt with the Rotom, Eugene found that unlikely. Rich people could hire an exterminator. So what was it? Perhaps the owner of the estate died while away, and nobody had bothered to clean up the house afterwards. That was probably it. Or, even, it could have just been a vacation home that nobody has been to in years. Too far into disrepair to spend the money fixing it up and making it into something, so they just let it sit there. Also a logical answer. Completely logical.

Eugene felt his legs get spread apart, as Joanne wedged her way between them. He looked down to see her perusing the books on the lowest shelf.

"Any luck?" Eugene asked.

Joanne shook her head.

"Well, good luck then," he said.

Joanne nodded.

Eugene lifted his leg over Joanne and stepped to the side, so that he was not standing in such an uncomfortable position.

"Ah!" Joanne said, "The wall."

"What?" Eugene asked.

"The wall in this spot is different," she said.

Eugene knelt down beside her to see where her flashlight was pointing. Sure enough, in the bottom corner of the bookshelf, the wall bulged out at a certain portion. The raised portion was just barely visible, and normally covered up by the multitude of books, not to mention darkness.

Eugene looked at Joanne. "So, what are we going to do?"

Joanne backed away for a second, "We're going to have," reached into her bag, "to open up the wall," trying to aim her flashlight in while searching.

"Isn't that a big drastic?" Eugene said, "This isn't our house to tear apart!"

"Not really," Joanne said, pulling out a pocket knife and flipping it open, crouching down towards the strange portion of the wall. Eugene backed away immediately as she began to dig around the corners of the raised portion of the wall.

After a few moments of cutting, Joanne tore the rest of the paper from the wall, and pulled something free from the wall with a swift motion. She sat up, with her flashlight on the treasure so Eugene could see it too.

It was a deep blue stone tablet, smooth all over, aside from the clean-cut corners. It had words engraved on it, which Joanne read aloud: "The power of defeated giants infuses this Plate."

"What does that mean?" Eugene asked.

"I'm not sure." Joanne said, staring at the tablet. Her face came very close to it, not to sniff or lick, but simply to look at it, as if getting closer to the object itself would allow Joanne to see through the rocky exterior to some true meaning, held within the confines of its physical prison.

Eugene stood up, looking for Cúchulainn, who had apparently stayed at the entrance to the room due to all of the clutter. But he wasn't just sitting, lying down, or chasing his tail, like he normally would do if left alone. He was growling lowly and quietly, facing the hallway, body stiffly locked in an attacking position, as if he were ready to spring given the trigger.

Eugene walked over to check out what had gotten Cúchulainn so riled up. Several ghost-type Pokémon floated around in the hallway, clouding the air and cackling loudly, glowing eyes illuminating the otherwise dark hallway. They inched closer, a wall of personified gases, tongues hanging open, blocking any path out.

"Joanne, I think we need to go," Eugene said, turning back around to her.

"Why?" she asked.

"There are some angry Pokémon outside, and I don't think we stand a very good chance in here," Eugene said.

This piqued Joanne's interest, and she stood up, closing her knife and putting it into her pocket while still holding onto the tablet, and then walked over to Eugene and looking over his shoulder, leaning against him. Her eyes widened.

"That is a lot," she said, "of Pokémon."

"Yes, but if we run we can probably get out of the house faster than they can," Eugene said.

Joanne looked at Cúchulainn, and her eyes darted down to the corner of the room. "Do you have any other Pokémon, Eugene?"

"Um, Irusan, he's a Shinx," Eugene said, "but we don't stand a chance fighting these off."

The cloudy wall of Pokémon came even closer, narrowing the distance. The room itself began to fog up.

Joanne stamped her foot down before she sPoké. It was clear and concise, authoritative. "These Gastly are fast, and we can't outrun them. I'm going to have my Staravia blow them away, to buy us some time. We might have to fight our way through them at the bottom, but try to get as far as you can before that. You're going to grab Cúchulainn on the count of three and run, got it?"

"Yes," Eugene said, tensing up. He hated countdowns.

"Three," Joanne shoved the plate in her backpack, zipped it up and strapped it tightly to her back.

"Two," she grabbed a Pokéball off of her belt, and held it comfortably.

"One!" she shouted, throwing her Pokéball into the hallway. Eugene dashed to grab Cúchulainn while the Pokéball erupted in a burst of light, releasing a furious Staravia.

"Robert, create a whirldwind!" Joanne shouted, running out of the room after Eugene, and snatching the Staravia's Pokéball while on the ground.

Robert, the Staravia, began to flap his wings in front of him, creating a gust of wind that was nearly strong enough to blow Eugene away. The cloudy Gastly were all sent flying from their spots, through the walls themselves.

Eugene ran with Cúchulainn hoisted up by one arm, his other hand trailing the wall so that he could find the exit amidst the darkness. The air in the hallway was noxious still, and much colder than it had been earlier, but Eugene could barely register this as he darted past, turning into the foyer as soon as he felt the border of the door.

The foyer was now lit up with the eyes of many, many, many ghost-Pokémon, of various consistencies. There was a thick fog, and the air burned the nostrils and the eyes. Scratchy cackles resonated in the large room, and although Eugene tried, it was nearly impossible to go any further. Whenever he tried to take a step forward, a strange force beckoned his legs to stay locked, as if his feet were bolted to the ground.

Until Joanne wheeled around the corner, with her Staravia in tow. She pointed once again, and he created a whirlwind that swept away many of the ghosts and created a small pocket of fresh air.

"Run!" she yelled, and Eugene followed her instructions without a second thought. But it quickly became difficult to move once again. The Staravia created another pocket of fresh air for them, which gave Eugene and Joanne enough energy to stumble down the staircase.

But at the bottom of the stairs, Eugene saw in the corner of his eye a burst of energy from a short, cackling Gengar, who was gleefully twirling on the top banister. The Staravia fell over, unconscious.

Eugene froze. Having seen what Joanne's Pokémon were capable of earlier, something that could take them out so easily was terrifying. They couldn't fight that. There was no way they would survive. But Joanne didn't wait a moment. She returned Robert to his Pokéball and sent out her Ambipom, gesturing to Eugene to pitch in.

"I thought you said we should run!" Eugene yelled, letting Cúchulainn down and signalling for him to attack.

"Without Robert to clear a path, we're not going to be able to get to the exit," Joanne said, "We're going to have to fight our way through."

Cúchulainn's body sprouted flames as he ran forward. He jumped in the air, aiming to tackle the Gengar, which quickly shifted to the side. Cúchulainn tumbled on the ground, but while Gengar was busy jeering at the failed attempt, Ambipom came up from behind him and smacked him around.

The Gengar was stunned, floating through the air for a moment before collecting himself. He gathered some strange energy and fired it at Ambipom, who grabbed onto the staircase handrail with one of her tails and pushed off with her feet, swinging around the rail, landing down on the ground near Joanne and Eugene.

She grabbed onto Eugene's pant-leg and pointed towards Cúchulainn, chattering feverishly for a few moments, and then returned to fight the Gengar in a single leap. Eugene looked, and noticed that Cúchulainn had yet to get up from his tumble earlier.

"He has been fighting all day long," Joanne said, "you should probably give him a rest."

Eugene nodded and fished in his bag, taking out a few items before finding his Pokéballs. He made Cúchulainn return, and sent out Irusan.

Irusan looked up at Eugene, mewed, and then began to run up the stairs, lighting his way with the bands on his legs, to where the Gengar and Ambipom were throttling each other, tumbling around. He began to crackle with light, fur standing on end as he approached. He jumped at Gengar and passed right through him, smacking Ambipom and crashing the pair through the railing down to the first floor in front of Eugene and Joanne.

They both recalled their Pokémon, and Joanne grabbed her last Pokéball.

"Max is my last," she said, holding the Pokéball tentatively before releasing the Rotom, "He's not going to last for long."

Eugene shook his head, stuffing his Pokéballs in his bag, as he said, "My Growlithe and Shinx were all I had."

The Rotom didn't have the energy in him to fight, and the gas was quickly becoming thick around Joanne and Eugene. Eugene's eyes and nostrils burned, his heartbeat began to accelerate, his head was pounding, he wasn't sure if his vision was blurring or if the gas was just that thick, he was pretty sure Joanne had returned her Rotom, and grabbed onto Eugene, bringing him low to the ground, but maybe he was just stumbling, being brought down by his own intoxication.

And then, the ground shook violently. The statue and all of the potted plants toppled over, breaking on the ground. The large windows shattered, and the door was thrust open. A low rumbling sound came from the doorway, and Eugene tried to look. He could see brief glow fill the doorway, before it flew over Eugene and Joanne, clearing the air as it passed.

Eugene looked up in his tear-filled eyes, and saw his hero, St. David, flying around with a grace unexpected from a Pokémon of his size as he clawed his way through the crowd of Pokémon. He made no distinction between Gastly and Gengar, and cleared the room in a matter of seconds. It was effortless, clean, and strangely beautiful.

"Is that your dragon?" Joanne asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, that's St. David!" Eugene said.

"He is very strong," she said as she stood up, brushing herself off and coughing, "he must be some sort of mythical, ancient Pokémon."

Eugene had never thought about how strong St. David was. He knew that his dad's Pokémon weren't common in Sinnoh, but he had assumed that they were at least relatively standard fare back in Kanto. And that he was strong enough for Joanne to consider him a rare specimen had never crossed his mind. It all seemed rather silly.

"My dad was the Champion of the Indigo League, he's just well-trained," said Eugene.

Joanne hummed a note of skepticism to herself while she picked Eugene up, brushing his hair off.

"I'm serious," Eugene said.

"Oh, I believe you," Joanne said.

Eugene looked back up at St. David, now that the room was clear. He was sitting where the railing around the stairs used to be, holding his Pokéball delicately in his claws, staring at Eugene.

"St. David, it's good to see you!" Eugene said, "are you going to come back?"

St. David cooed once more, gently flew down to Eugene, and held the Pokéball up high above Eugene's reach. He bellowed, continuing to stare at Eugene. Then, he walked over to Joanne, and gave her a large hug, before lifting off once again.

"Why won't he come back to me?" Eugene asked.

Joanne stared at the hole in the ceiling that St. David had just created for himself for a moment before looking at Eugene. "He will take care of you," she said, "But he does not find you worthy."

Eugene's brow furrowed before he sPoké. "He's babysitting me."

"Yes, and you," she said, walked towards the open remains-of-the-doorway, "seem to need it."

Eugene grumbled about how he could look after himself, and didn't need his dad's Pokémon stalking him to make sure that he didn't get into trouble, and began to follow Joanne as she began to walk back down the narrow tree-path.

The stars were out now, and the moon was illuminating the pathway before them. The forest had become an impenetrable wall of darkness in the shadows, but it was all somewhat peaceful.

"We are very close to the city, and I am sorry," Joanne said, "That I couldn't get you there before nightfall."

"It's okay," Eugene said, though he did resent her somewhat. He would have had a nice dinner by now. But, you couldn't be mad at someone if you were expecting them to make out with you very soon. Unless you wanted sexy angry-make-outs, but something told Eugene that Joanne wasn't the kind of girl who would be into angry-make-outs. She was more of a walk-in-on-Eugene-in-the-shower kind of girl, really. She had that spark, the fusion of the bizarre and the passionate, with the tint of the romantic, that led to the spontaneous but classic love-making scenarios.

Once back on the main-path, it did not take Eugene and Joanne long to leave the forest behind and cross over the old bridges to Eterna City.

Eugene had been hoping that it was like Jubilife, but was let down. While the buildings here were crowded together, and lights flickered all around during this evening hour, it was rather unlike Jubilife. The buildings were decidedly rustic, and rarely rose more than three stories. It was more like someone had taken several small towns like Floaroma and squeezed them together than it was like Jubilife. But the paved roads and streetlights were decent consolation, and Eugene gladly took comfort in them. It wasn't so bad.

Joanne paused at the first street corner they arrived at, and turned to Eugene. "Well, I suppose we are going to depart, now. It has been nice showing you through the forest."

"Oh," Eugene said, unsure of how to react at first. He wanted to continue spending time with her, but didn't want to come off as desperate. "Well, I don't know where I am staying tonight, what are you doing?"

"There's a hostel near here," she said, looking in what must have been vaguely the direction of the hostel.

"Can I stay there?" Eugene asked.

"If they have room," Joanne said, "and if you can pay, then they will let anyone stay."

Eugene smiled, "That sounds great!"

"First, we should," Joanne said, "heal our Pokémon."

Eugene nodded, and continued to walk behind Joanne as she turned around the corner, heading to the red roof that indicated the presence of a Pokémon Center. The familiar whoosh of the doors, the same scent of sterilization, and the mild chatter of other trainers passing through the area, providing tips to those who would listen, recounting their tales.

Nobody was in line to heal their Pokémon, so Eugene and Joanne walked right up. He let Joanne go first, since it was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the Nurse asked Joanne.

"Yes, please," Joanne said.

"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds," the nurse said as she took Joanne's Pokéballs, hooked them up to the machine and pressed a button. A few lights flashed, and she handed the Pokéballs back. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!"

Then Eugene walked forward, handing Cúchulainn and Irusan's Pokéballs to the Nurse.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?" the Nurse asked Eugene.

Eugene was officially getting a bit freaked out by this whole ordeal. "Yes."

"OK, I'll take your Pokémon for a few seconds," the nurse said as she took Eugene's Pokéballs, hooked them up to the machine and pressed a button. A few lights flashed, and she handed the Pokéballs back. "Thank you for waiting. We've restored your Pokémon to full health. We hope to see you again!"

Eugene dropped his Pokéballs in his bag, and turned around, seeing the computer in the corner of his eye.

"Are you ready to go?" Joanne asked.

"Can you wait a second, I need to do something," he said, pointing towards the computer. She nodded, and he walked over to the computer, logging onto his email account. First, he opened Chet's email to him, and wrote a quick response:

_Hey Chet,_

_ I'm not in town, can't make your party. Sorry, bro. Maybe another time?_

_ -Eugene_

He hit send and hoped there would not be another time.

He opened up Kyle's email and wrote a response as well:

_Hi Kyle,_

_ I'm not working in Jubilife. I'm in Eterna City! TJ must have lied to you because he knew I was leaving with Cúchulainn._

_ I've made some really good friends so far, so you don't need to worry about me! And Cúchulainn has already gotten pretty strong, it's awesome. I don't know where I'm going, exactly, but I figure I will get there eventually!_

_ From,_

_ Eugene_

Eugene hit send, and logged out of his account. He turned around to meet up with Joanne, who was staring at her reflection in the door, and together they walked out the door, ready to call it a night at the hostel.


End file.
